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All Hail Optimus Part 5: As Above...So Below

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« The Transformers vol. 2 #54 »
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"All Hail Optimus Part 5:
As Above...So Below"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published June 15, 2016
Cover date June 2016
Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Colors Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Superion faces the ultimate sacrifice to stop Galvatron's plans for the Enigma of Combination, while Optimus Prime's campaign reaches a dramatic turning point.

Contents

Synopsis

Beneath the Indian Ocean, the Galvatron-controlled Sky Reign attacks Superion, who struggles to fight back as he starts to feel the Enigma of Combination trying to take over his own mind. Jetfire deduces that the Enigma was responsible for separating Victorion, so Kup suggests deleting a portion of the Enigma's source code—shared between all devices using it—in hopes of "breaking" it. Such a tactic proves impossible, as the code simply repairs itself. Fortunately, Superion has one advantage the other combiners do not: he was not created by the Enigma. Using the limited resistance to its power that this grants him, Superion begins to write the Enigma's source code onto his own brain, allowing him to take control of it and use it to force the other combiners to separate. In the process, however, he loses control of the part of his mind that controls his mass displacement, and swells up to even more gigantic size. The colossal Superion begins tearing into the Nemesis, which in turn starts losing power, allowing Blackrock to escape his bonds while Galvatron rages. Finally, with some difficulty, Superion separates back into the Aerialbots; de-combining effectively causes Superion's brain to cease to "exist," thereby causing the portion of the Enigma source code he had written onto his brain to disappear from the whole. The Enigma is now useless... but in order for it to remain that way, Superion must never combine again.

In Monument Valley, Optimus Prime continues refusing to let Soundwave engage the attacking EDC forces, even as Circuit reports live to Cybertron as events unfold. Unfortunately, Soundwave has had all he can stand, and he and Aileron are soon returning fire. Optimus despairs and turns to Alpha Trion for advice, but all the old 'bot has to offer are enigmatic prophecies and platitudes. Desperate, Optimus encourages Soundwave to try reading the humans' minds; perhaps goaded somewhat by the veiled allegation that he can't do it, Soundwave complies, and is granted sudden, jarring understanding. Human brains, he realizes as he makes contact, are at their base level electrical, just like Cybertronians, and all the fear and hatred he feels from them is just as real and valid as any Cybertronian emotion. Recognizing the wrongness of his belief that humans are lesser beings, Soundwave immediately takes responsibility for the crimes he has perpetrated against humanity, and surrenders.

Back under the ocean, Galvatron hauls himself from the wreckage of the Nemesis and picks through his fallen troops until he finds Astrotrain, who he wakes up and orders to transport him away. Sunstreaker tries to stop them escaping, but nearly takes a cannon-blast from Galvatron to the face; he is saved only when Thundercracker tackles him out of the shot's path, which gives Galvatron and Astrotrain their chance to get away.
(thumbnail)
WHO DARES AWAKEN...oh...it's you.

Simultaneously, Arcee's team attempts to take Blackrock into custody, but they are kept at bay by a gun-toting Faireborn and Jones, who have arrived in response to a secret signal Blackrock hid in the transmission Galvatron had earlier sent to the EDC. Arcee is not willing to back down, but the matter is taken out of her hands when a repentant Skywarp—having secretly made a deal with Blackrock—teleports Faireborn, Jones, and Blackrock away.

Surrounded by the EDC, Optimus sadly concludes that he has been defeated, leading Starscream—watching Circuit's broadcast on Cybertron—to celebrate even harder. Alpha Trion, however, continues to urge him to reach out with his feelings. Prime again senses the mysterious object buried beneath the valley that drew him there in the first place... but this time, he realizes what it is. Kneeling down, Prime bids what lurks beneath to arise... and a gigantic Titan bursts out of the ground! The EDC immediately retreat, while a crestfallen Starscream's jaw hangs open. Just then, Arcee radios in to report on their mission, regretfully informing Prime of Galvatron's escape. But Prime, galvanized by the day's successes, refuses to accept this result, and finally permits Arcee to hunt Galvatron down and end his threat—no matter the cost.


Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

Quotes

Soundwave: "I hear you, Spike Witwicky. I should have known it would be you."
Qian: "What did you do to get him mad at you?"
Spike: "No idea. He might just hate me on principle."


"Only an Autobot would bring a pistol to a fusion cannon fight."

—Galvatron


"This must be what an Autobot victory feels like. You won on certain fronts, yet your quarry slipped away."
"Not this time, Soundwave. Arcee—pursue Galvatron. Do not allow him to escape...whatever the cost."

—Soundwave and Optimus Prime

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Rumble and Frenzy talk about how Arcee "keeps beating them up," referring to several past clashes with her in issue #11, #16, and #36.
  • The story behind Superion's spontaneous creation was discussed in issue #18.
  • Soundwave refers to Spike with contempt, but Spike doesn't know what he did to make the Decepticon hate him with such specificity. More than likely, it was the time his team deactivated Rumble, back in All Hail Megatron #9, which caused Soundwave to howl with anguish when it happened. Spike also finds the sensation of Soundwave trying to read his mind familiar, citing a past experience with it from All Hail Megatron; Soundwave didn't read any human minds in that story, so presumably, Spike's referring to the brain-rattling sonic screech that followed Rumble's defeat in that same issue, just before Soundwave came running onto the scene.
  • It is explained that Prime brought the Autobots to Monument Valley based on the vision he experienced back in issue #50; said vision included the sight of a Titan emerging from the ground. Optimus noted in the previous issue that he was sensing something in the area.
  • Optimus previously displayed the ability to awaken dormant Titans in Autocracy #10 (immediately after having being transformed into Optimus Prime by the Matrix of Leadership) and issue #19 of this series.
  • Swift mentions that she thought being a Decepticon would be less "desperate" indicating that she has formally joined them, though she isn't shown to have a Decepticon sigil anywhere. This also means that she becomes the second female Decepticon to appear in IDW continuity, after Nickel of the Decepticon Justice Division.

Transformers references

Real-life references

  • On Sara Pitre-Durocher's retailer incentive cover, a shipping container is stamped "19062015 VCTRN", in reference to the June 19, 2015 reveal of Victorion on USA Today, which included artwork from the Combiner Hunters one-shot, Pitre-Durocher's first interior work for IDW.
  • "As above so below" is an ancient Hermetic phrase taken from the Emerald Tablet, part of a series of Egyptian-Greek wisdom texts. The texts discuss concepts like alchemy, astrology, the divine, and the nature of the mind.
  • Galvatron's quote "Only an Autobot would bring a pistol to a fusion cannon fight" is a paraphrase of the oft used quote "bring a knife to a gunfight", possibly first used in the 1987 film The Untouchables.

Errors

  • As Superion grows to a gigantic size and starts tearing into the Nemesis, Alpha Bravo is suddenly his left arm, and Fireflight his right. As Superion separates, they are back in their usual positions.
  • Meanwhile, the regular cover, which depicts a very toy-accurate Superion, features Fireflight-as-his-left-arm in Slingshot's colors (i.e. the Quickslinger toy), even though Alpha Bravo is still drawn as Superion's right arm.

Covers (3)

  • (thumbnail)

    "I'm getting too old for this glitch!"

  • (thumbnail)

    Who are these knockoffs?

  • (thumbnail)

    Girls night out

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