Last Bot Standing issue 2
From Transformers Wiki
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The Good, the 'Bot, and the Ugly | |||||||||||||
Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
First published | June 8, 2022 | ||||||||||||
Cover date | June 2022 | ||||||||||||
Written by | Nick Roche | ||||||||||||
Art by | Nick Roche (pg. 1, 5, 26), E. J. Su (pg. 2-4, 6-25, 27-30) | ||||||||||||
Colors | Rebecca Nalty | ||||||||||||
Letters by | Johanna Nattalie | ||||||||||||
Editor | David Mariotte and Riley Farmer |
The sins of the past loom large as Rodimus finds himself the object of suspicion, while a new group of amoral Cybertronian survivors make planetfall.
Contents |
Synopsis
In the desert night, Rodimus finds more questions than answers as he examines the strange cylindrical vessel responsible for bringing the other Cybertronian to Donnokt: not only are the capsule's inner workings caked in a greasy, organic liquid that Rodimus can't readily identify, its lack of engines or kind of propulsion system suggests someone must've deliberately fired it from an external launcher... but who fired it, and why? As he ponders out loud, a familiar voice catches his attention: Shib Wallkis has secretly followed Rodimus out into the desert. Before they passed away, she tells him, her parents warned her that Rodimus would only ever wake up in an extreme emergency. However, answers don't come quickly to Rodimus who's spent so much time in a low-power standby mode that his return to the waking world has left him disoriented. When he looks to the stars, the sight leaves him even more confused: the stars in the sky aren't where they're supposed to be... and there aren't enough: one by one, the stars in the sky are winking out. As another star disappears right in front of them, Shib asks if Rodimus knows anything about why the stars have been fading her whole life... and the old 'bot informs her that it's all because of him—him and the rest of the Cybertronian race.
For untold eons, Autobots and Decepticons waged their endless war, a grinding, increasingly pointless conflict that swallowed planets, destroyed stars and drove countless sentient races into extinction until the Transformers became victims of their own longevity: when the universe ran out of resources to fight over and spare parts to repair themselves, the Cybertronians gradually dwindled away until only Rodimus remained, the very last Cybertronian of all—or so he thought. Shib reminds Rodimus, that, long ago, he made an agreement with her ancestors: if they kept him safe, then he'd keep them safe: her, her family, and maybe even the whole planet... but Rodimus asks if that deal applies to alderman Errold and his mob of angry citizens, who've pursued the pair across the barrens to apprehend Rodimus. Although Shib tries vouching for the exasperated Autobot, Erold points out that, by all accounts, Rodimus was the aggressor in the most recent scuffle between him and the other Cybertronian; after some back-and-forth, Rodimus makes a deal: if Shib walks free, then he'll come back to town with them and even allow them to tie him down if it makes them feel safe.
Elsewhere in the desert, outside the second, much larger cylinder, a small rabbit-like Cybertronian grumbles to himself as he completes his post-flight diagnostics, but his complaints only earn the ire of Steeljaw as the commander emerges from stasis. Once "Spine-Shucker", the newly christened "Moon" reports that all of their equipment and crew—as far as they know, the last dozen Transformers in the universe—have survived the trip intact, while Steeljaw's sister Sharpclaw announces that they've got a bead on Nitro's landing site. While Moon reactivates and refuels Override and Riotgear, Sharpclaw informs her brother that they've found a single Cybertronian lifesign moving away from his lander; for his part, Steeljaw waves off her concerns and assumes that the disoriented Nitro got himself lost. Near Nitro's landing sites, the two guards Errold posted to keep an eye on the vessel are confused by a cloud of dust on the horizon. Although they initially mistake the pair for some local steam cars, the terrifying sight of the two vehicles transforming into Override and Riotgear sends the two organics scrambling for cover, even if Riotgear gets stuck in mid-transformation and requires a kick from Override to complete his shift into robot mode. Override searches the capsule for any clues regarding Nitro's whereabouts, and a potential argument over who gets to ingest some of the leftover biofuel smeared on the instruments gets cut short when Riotgear, who prefers his "fuel" raw, finds and scoops up the two guards as they cower behind a nearby rock. Before he disposes of the organics, however, he demands to know what happened to the other Cybertronian, and interprets their frantic pointing as a clue...
At the Wallkis farmstead, with the guards posted outside her home asleep, Shib makes preparations for a rescue mission: after secretly donning one of the mysterious necklaces provided by her parents, then putting frightened brother Beets at ease, she sneaks out of a nearby window and heads down the road into Fembrance, where the townsfolk have taken Rodimus prisoner. By morning, a grouchy, underfuelled Rodimus reminds his captors that they've only captured him because he let them... but as Shib sneaks up to try and rescue her friend, the ground shakes as Override and Riotgear arrive! Impervious to the crude powder weapons wielded by the citizens of Fembrance, the pair follow the signal and stumble across Rodimus; overjoyed to find another member of their kind, the pair help him to his feet and carry him away in their alternate modes, ignoring his protests all the while. Overcome with emotion, Riotgear tells Rodimus that this meeting must be a portent: after years of wandering the stars, they've finally found a new home.
Some time later, the three guards report to Errold, who's upset to learn that that the mechanical invaders have stolen their prisoner out from under them. Although the sheriff initially suggests they head up to the Wallkis farmstead for some answers, a breathless guard bursts in with alarming news: Shib's gone missing! A furious Errold promptly leaps to the conclusion that she must've colluded with the aliens to steal the treasures in their hills... a betrayal he won't stand for.
Only a few hours after planetfall, Steeljaw's remnant Cybertronians have turned the crash site into a hub of activity as they labour to unpack and construct a prefabricated biofuel distillery. When Sharpclaw reports three Cybertronian signatures on approach, Steeljaw initially assumes that they've found Nitro... but is intrigued by the sight of a new Transformer, even as Rodimus recoils in disgust from their touch. The old Autobot squares up for a fight—but, as his tank runs dry, he finally gives out and collapses.
With the war over, Rodimus's friends Strongarm and Gripper debate their next move. Strongarm, certain that there must be other pockets of survivors out there in the universe, wants to take their ship, find their kin, and begin again... but Rodimus, certain that there can be no second chance for their species, insists that they stay on this world and defend it from any other Cybertronians who would do it harm. After a moment's thought, Strongarm agrees, while Gripper suggests they all go for a drive to take their minds off the problem.
When Rodimus comes to, Steeljaw formally introduces himself and the rest of his "family"... and although Rodimus growls that he wants nothing to do with Decepticons, Steeljaw tells him that these old labels no longer apply—the Cybertronians who follow him have long ago forgotten their original factions, to the point where none of them even recognize Rodimus when he introduces himself. When Rodimus warns the group that there's no energon on Donnokt to plunder, Steeljaw reveals that there's no energon left anywhere. In these straitened times, he and his followers have adapted by travelling from world to world, farming and processing organic resources into an alternative "biofuel" capable of sustaining Cybertronian life. Rodimus realizes that someone stole his cape while he was unconscious, and Steeljaw explains that, while tending to their new companion, they found a stowaway hidden inside his "unbefitting" garment, who will become the first batch of biofuel brewed on this new world to commemorate their friendship. While Steeljaw orders Override and Riotgear to refit Rodimus with a new fuel intake, he and Moon prepare to process this "local delicacy"... Shib!
Featured characters
(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Autobots | Decepticons | Donnokt | Others |
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Quotes
"Dying came easy to us. You were never mourned for long because someone nearly always found a way to bring you back. So you could pick up right where you left off. You can't bring a human, or a Nebulan, or a Klovian back to life. You can rebuild a Cybertronian, but you can't resurrect a star. You can't remake a planet. And eventually, finally, we did it. There were no more places left to battle over and to drain of resources. No one to put us back together again. Nothing to put us back together with. We could just end. Just like all those planets, all those places, all those... people."
- —Rodimus
"He ain't dangerous!"
"No. He's right... I am dangerous. Of course I am. We always are. You need to remember that, Shib. Whatever else I end up forgetting, I need to remember that, too. Because if I don't, that makes me even more of a threat."
- —Shib and Rodimus
"It is, of course, your right to be addressed as you wish, officer... Moon."
'Thank you, Commander Steeljaw."
"Just as it is my right, and that of the entire crew—which, lest you forget, makes up the remainder of your race—to be utterly, utterly embarrassed by your very existence."
- —Steeljaw and Moon
"Woah. Right in the cog. Good shot."
"We're not close enough for me to keep doing this, Riotgear."
- —Riotgear and Override
"Take... take your hands off me. How is this possible? Why aren't you dead? Why can't you be dead?"
- —Rodimus gets rescued against his will
"We deserve that, don't we? To find more of us, to start again?"
"Strongarm, you know what "starting again" means for Cybertronians. A beginning for us is just an ending for too many others."
- —Strongarm and Rodimus
"My name... is Rodimus."
(beat)
"Then we are pleased to meet you... Rodim-"
"Wait. Didn't you hear me? My name is Rodimus."
"Yes. That's... should we know—"
"You've never heard of me? All right. Hot Rod. I used to go by Hot Rod. That ring a bell? I was Rodimus Prime for a while... I think... a Prime. Does that mean something?"
- —Rodimus can't impress Steeljaw
Notes
Continuity notes
- When Nitro arrived outside Fembrance in the previous issue, a passerby noted that he'd "come from the stories." Errold's speech in this issue continues on this theme, and implies that, millennia after the end of the war, myths and legends of the destructive Cybertronians have persisted, even amongst cultures who arose long after the disappearance of the Autobots and Decepticons.
- The sign welcoming visitors to the town of Fembrance was destroyed last issue when Rodimus killed the "Visitor"—as per dialogue in this issue, we now know that his real name is "Nitro". It's not really clear what happened to Nitro's body, however; going by the ending of issue #1, Override and Riotgear should have stumbled on his headless corpse lying outside the village, but it's possible that the townsfolk were able to quickly dispose of his remains before sunrise.
- The third flashback in this issue seems to tie into the brief, one-page sequence in issue #1, which showed Rodimus, Strongarm, and Gripper piloting a vessel under attack from other Cybertronian starships. The first panel of this issue, combined with Rodimus's narration on page five, makes it clear that Strongarm and Gripper are both dead, but it's not yet clear if this is the result of a crash-landing or if this issue's flashback is set after the one in issue #1, and that something else destroyed them and their ship after they landed on Donnokt.
Transformers references
- Shib notes that, to the people of Donnokt, the relativistic phenomenon of the nighttime stars winking out is known as "lost lights", and the aged Rodimus notes that the phrase feels familiar. The Lost Light, was, of course, the starship that one iteration of the character captained in IDW's popular More than Meets the Eye and Lost Light ongoings.
- Rodimus recounts that he was "forged" after the beginning of the Great War. Like most versions of the character, he claims to have originally gone by "Hot Rod", and briefly enjoyed a stint as "Rodimus Prime".
- In his story, Rodimus muses that the Cybertronians treated death as something impermanent and reversible—a meta-reference to how many Transformers stories, most prominently the original Marvel comic, would regularly kill off and resurrect characters, often as a way of "clearing out" old product to advertise new toys.
- In the same conversation, Rodimus describes the Cybertronian war as "Over. Finished.", a well-trodden Furmanism. In the third flashback, Gripper drops another one when he sardonically asks Rodimus "who wants to live forever?"
- As per Rodimus, casualties of the Cybertronian war include humans, Nebulans, and Klovians, pink aliens who originally appeared in the final issue of Marvel's The Transformers comic.
- The flashback on page five features a diverse array of characters from across the Transformers mythos. Powermaster Optimus Prime's leading the Autobots; notable faces in the crowd include Battlestars big guy Grandus, Beast Wars Tigerhawk, Thunderclash, and G1 versions of Prime Bulkhead and Armada Red Alert. On the Decepticon side of things, Galvatron's lesser-known allies include Flamewar as she appeared in IDW's 2019 comic reboot, Beast Machines Strika, the Pretender Snarler, the bat-winged Gigatron, and a gold-and-white Decepticon based on the Noisemaze Mass Production Type Versions from Cybertron. Finally, in the bottom right corner, there's Calcar, a late-run European exclusive from the tail-end of the original "Generation 1" toyline.
- Spaceborne casualties on page five include the Ark or another Vanguard-class ship of its model, and the Warworld as it appeared in Marvel's Generation 2 comics, complete with a Generation 2-style Decepticon insignia.
- The central antagonist of our story is revealed to be Steeljaw, a new version of the smooth-talking wolf-bot who debuted in 2015's Robots in Disguise franchise. Like Robots in Disguise Steeljaw, who aimed to become the next Decepticon leader after Megatron's defeat, this iteration of the character has taken a group of Cybertronian stragglers under his wing and set himself up as their nominal commander. Unlike his cartoon self, however, this version of the character has a sister: Sharpclaw, an original character created by Nick Roche's daughter, who'd previously made a cameo in Transformers issue #20.
- In addition to Sharpclaw and Moon, other Cybertronian remnants who've joined up with Steeljaw include perennial Unicron Trilogy favourite Override, Robots in Disguise Wedge, an original character named Vex (see "Errors" for details), and three of the five 'bots who formed Galvatronus in the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon: Treadshock, Riotgear, and Cyberwarp (in her blue-and-yellow cartoon coloration). Although they don't appear in this issue, Steeljaw also namedrops the Japanese-original characters Lunaclub and Scylla, and speaks of a character known only as "the Veteran": while this was the name a grizzled future Swoop went by in 3H's Universe comic, the preview for issue #3, combined with a few bits of dialogue in this issue, suggests that it's actually a new moniker for a post-apocalyptic Wheelie. Author Nick Roche has explained that, with the exception of Wheelie, he deliberately chose characters who debuted after the end of the original Transformers franchise, thus providing an in-fiction justification for why Rodimus wouldn't know them. [1]
- Without sufficient fuel or spare parts, Steeljaw notes that he and his men have had to "overwrite" old memories to stay functional, a new version of the "information creep" concept from More than Meets the Eye. Although Steeljaw and his compatriots have forgotten many heroes and villains from the olden days—Optimus Prime, Grimlock, and Rodimus himself—they immediately remember Thunderclash when Rodimus drops his name, hearkening back to a running gag in More than Meets the Eye where the heroic Autobot continually one-upped Rodimus.
- Steeljaw's practice of distilling "biofuel" to survive in an energon-depleted universe resembles More than Meets the Eye's "pink alchemy", a similarly gruesome method of processing living beings into a viable energon substitute.
Real-world references
- Steeljaw's remnant Cybertronians travel from planet to planet using unguided, cylindrical projectiles; combined with their plan to round up the inhabitants of Donnokt and consume them, they evoke the antagonistic Martians from The War of the Worlds.
- Continuing the unexpected classic literature references, the imagery of a prone Rodimus lashed to the ground while surrounded by smaller beings evokes the iconic scene from Gulliver's Travels where the miniature citizens of Lilliput capture Gulliver.
Errors
- Steeljaw's forces include a 'bot named "Vex"—while the next issue will depict him as a reddish-orange Cybertronian who turns into a six-wheeled vehicle, this issue, perhaps stemming from some kind of miscommunication betwewen writer and artists, instead shows him as a slender, purple and yellow Cybertronian.
Other trivia
- Cover B shows Rodimus lassoing the moon because Andrew Griffith misinterpreted an editorial suggestion for him to be lassoing Moon. Hey, it looks cool either way![2]
Covers (5)
- Cover A: Bad Moon rising, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
- Cover B: Rodimus lassos the moon on horseback, by Andrew Griffith
- Cover C: A western showdown, by Sid Ven Blu
- Cover D: Rodimus homages the Vitruvian Man, by Jim Stafford
- Retailer incentive cover: Rodimus versus Moon, by E. J. Su
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References
- ↑ "The thinking was that they'd be Bots that Rodimus wouldn't have met/known. And the dopey way I rationalised this was: make them toys that were released after him. It imposed some fuzzy logic over the whole thing!"—Nick Roche, Twitter, 2022/08/31
- ↑ "That time the editors suggested I had Hot Rod lasso “moon” and I showed I was an idiot by thinking they actually meant “THE” moon but it still worked somehow."—Andrew Lee Griffith, Twitter, 2023/11/04