Robots in Disguise issue 6

« Transformers: Robots in Disguise #6
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	January 20, 2016
Cover date	December 2015
Written by	Georgia Ball
Art by	Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by	Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	Aligned continuity family

The Autobots track down Steeljaw's Pack to rescue Fixit and Russell.

Synopsis

Continuing on their mission from the Primes, Windblade and Optimus Prime search another in an increasingly long series of caves for the mysterious object they have been charged with finding. Prime senses they have found their quarry at last... at which point, much to their surprise, Predaking comes roaring out of the darkness! Prime brings a clutch of stalactites crashing down on the Predacon's head and he withdraws back into the cave's depths; Windblade suggests they pursue, but Prime spots the object of their search poking out of the shadows...

In the Vehicons' energon mine, Fixit and Russell try to effect an escape by drilling a path of their own through the rock. Fortunately, the Decepticons cannot hear them, because they are so busy with their own drilling; Steeljaw, it turns out, also freed Thunderhoof, Clampdown, Underbite, and Fracture from their stasis cells when he raided the scrapyard, and they are all now helping the Vehicons to mine energon. Thunderhoof is not happy about the manual labor, given how many other Decepticons were in stasis that they could have freed and put to work, but Steeljaw explains that he only liberated those he knew he could trust. There is energon enough in the mine to build the Decepticon empire Steeljaw dreams of... but first, he must have revenge on Bumblebee and his team.

The Bee Team survey the damage to the scrapyard, and wonder how they will be able to find the Decepticons without Fixit or a functioning computer. Strongarm suggest that, surely, they can apply some deductive reasoning to figure it out, and Grimlock surprises everyone by quickly putting his mind to the task and concluding that Steeljaw must be hiding in the Sierra Vistas, since that is where Megatronus hurled him. When Drift finds a tiny energon crystal fragment among the wreckage of the yard, the search radius narrows even further...

Back in the mine, Underbite is not doing so well in the cramped underground space, but his loud freakout provides good cover for Fixit and Russel to sneak away through their impromptu tunnel. Creeping down a side passage, they find their way blocked by the napping form of Fracture; the pair take cover, and Fixit does his rather good impression of Steeljaw, barking orders to Fracture to wake him up and get him out of their way. The duo move to escape, but Russell accidentally kicks a small piece of energon, alerting Fracture to their presence. The bounty hunter deploys his Mini-Cons to pursue them, but just as the two tiny terrors leap ahead to block Fixit and Russell's path, Bumblebee and the other Autobots burst through the waterfall that hides the entrance to the mine, having tracked the energon signal there.

The fight between the Bee Team and Steeljaw's Pack quickly moves outside, where Steeljaw reveals that his new Vehicon followers have an "explosive insurance policy" left to them by Starscream: a bomb, held by Steve, and triggered by a dead man's switch. Bumblebee tackles Steve, trying to get him to drop the explosive over a cliff, as Steeljaw urges the Vehicon to set it off immediately. Another Vehicon objects to the plan—the Pack have the Autobots outnumbered and can defeat them without risking the loss of their own in the bomb blast. Steeljaw threatens to report the Vehicon to Megatron for his insubordination, but the Vehicon replies that while Megatron would happily sacrifice Vehicons in the name of the Decepticon cause, he would not do so for a personal vendetta like Steeljaw's. At that point, Optimus and Windblade descend from the sky and present to the assembled crowd the object they were sent to search for: one of Starscream's weapons! Optimus explains to the Vehicons that the war is over, and the sight of Starscream's weapon—which they reason he would not be without were he still a leader—is enough to convince the Vehicons that Steeljaw has lied to them. Steve rips his own hand off, still containing the bomb, allowing him to hurl it at Steeljaw before the dead man's switch activates. Steeljaw is consumed by the blast and disappears, while the shockwaves from the explosion collapse part of the cliff and send the rest of his Pack tumbling straight into the Autobots' hands, to be cuffed and returned to their stasis cells. Bumblebee and Optimus tell the Vehicons that, as ex-soldiers, they will not be considered criminals on Cybertron unless they break the law, and so are welcome to peacefully return to their home. The Vehicons, however, politely refuse the offer, preferring instead to return to hiding and wait for what they see as the inevitable day that Megatron and Starscream will return.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"These energon crystals have not been properly harvested. You should take more care not to damage them."
"Yeah? Well, that's the way I learned it, XL-9-Whatever-Your-Name-Is. You don't like it, you know where to harvest yourself."

—A Vehicon and Thunderhoof

"Raw energon will blow up if you breathe on it funny."

—Underbite

"You know what they say about trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, right?"

—Windblade, on the Decepticons' defeat

"The war is not over for us. We all have heroes. They can't be easily replaced. We don't ask you to understand... but until they return, we'll be waiting... somewhere in the dark places of the world."

—A Vehicon, on the idea of heroes on both sides.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Predaking has evidently been hiding out on Earth following his last appearance in "Predacons Rising."
• The fact that Predaking was in a cave with a piece of Starscream isn't coincidence, as the Decepticon air commander was last seen being menacingly surrounded by Predaking and his Predacons at the climax of "Predacons Rising". If you remember your Prime, you'll recall that Starscream's "weapon" is, in fact, Starscream's own transformed severed arm, which suggests the Predacons followed through on their implied intent to eviscerate him.
• Clampdown, Thunderhoof, Underbite, and Fracture and his Mini-Cons were all captured by the Autobots in the Robots in Disguise season 1 finale. In order to not screw up the cartoon's continuity, they are, of course, all locked back up by the end of this story.

Errors

• Following on from last issue, in which they were drawn without wings despite having aerial alternate modes, the Vehicons do have their wings in robot mode in this story, but they come and go from panel to panel, occasionally kiiiinda looking like they might have been added to the art after the fact to fix the error.
• The energon the Decepticons mine in this issue is the classic pink-purple color of Generation 1, but in the Aligned continuity, energon is supposed to be bright blue. This change would later be repeated years later in the Rescue Bots Academy episode "The Great Energon Rush".
• There's a caption at the start of page 9 that reads "The Energon Mine" that was presumably supposed to go at the top of page 8, when the scene actually shifted to the mine.

Other notes

• This is the final issue of Robots in Disguise. Originally solicited for release in December, it arrived on the third week of January.
• So is it just us, or did that whole sub-plot about Russell trying to live up to his heroes from last issue come to nothing?

Covers (2)

• Regular cover: Vehicons surround Bumblebee as Steeljaw's image looms over them all, by Priscilla Tramontano.
• Subscription cover: Bumblebee and Steeljaw grapple as Strongarm draws a bead on the Decepticon, by Josh Burcham

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• The Transformers #48
• IDW Transformers Reading Guide

External links

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