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The Next Day, and the Next

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"The Next Day, and the Next"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published May 24, 2017
Cover date May 2017
Written by John Barber
Art by Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

In the past, Jetfire struggles on his first day at work, while in the present, Optimus Prime and the president meet to discuss the pros and cons of non-violent resolution, and Marissa Faireborn and Pyra Magna have an exchange of ideas of their own.

Contents

Synopsis

Four million years ago, Jetfire arrives for his first day of work for the Autobot security forces. Prowl expresses a little surprise that he actually showed up; Jetfire himself isn't even sure why he did, and the sight of the gun he used to kill a Decepticon (to save Orion Pax's life) on Prowl's desk causes him to worry about the path his life is taking. Jetfire accompanies Prowl as he takes the gun down the lab for study, and is introduced to another of the lab techs he will be working with, Nosecone. Nosecone is immediately hostile to Jetfire, perceiving his hiring a publicity stunt, and believing that a flier is too much of an impatient "hot shot" to have an aptitude for science.

In the present day, the president arrives at Autobot City for another meeting with Optimus Prime to discuss his recent decision to seek non-violent resolution to conflicts. This reminds the president of her late father, a social rights activist who also preached non-violent resistance, and how her job requires similar restraint, often at the expense of the most morally correct solution —a "worthwhile path," Optimus summarizes, versus an "unrealistic goal." As the pair's conversation continues, the subject of Jazz and his impending TV interview comes up. Jazz's past altercations with human law enforcement, including the justifiable homicide of police officer John Powell, make him a dangerous choice for the Autobot's "public face," but Optimus is unwilling to impinge of Jazz's freedoms by ordering him not to do the interview. The president cautions him with the lesson her father's life choices inadvertently taught her: choosing not to fight forces you to make harder decisions than fighting does.

Meanwhile, in the Autobot City medi-bay, Aileron offers her sympathies to Arcee over the worsening plight of Sideswipe, recalling the death of her own friend Sterling. Arcee is quick to correct Aileron—Sideswipe's not her friend. She doesn't have friends, because everyone thinks she's crazy. Aileron tenderly replies that she doesn't think Arcee is crazy.

At the site of the former EDC base on Bikini Atoll, construction of the new "Little Cybertron" refugee camp for the Junkions and Sharkticons continues, overseen by Soundwave, the Torchbearers, and Marissa Faireborn and Flint. Flint finds the whole thing distasteful, and does not support the plan, but Marissa believes the Junkions have much to offer Earth, and reminds her father that it was his idea for her to get involved in the Cybertronian situation in the fist place. Marissa leaves Flint to stew and heads down to get between Pyra Magna and Thundercracker; Pyra is annoyed to see the ex-Decepticon playing with Buster rather than helping with construction, but Marissa tells the Torchbearer leader to back off and leave him alone. Pyra invites Marissa to take a trip around the camp with her so they can talk.

Nearby, the Autobot colonist soldiers gather in front of Oiler's grave to offer their condolences to Slide. They discuss the different ways death is honored on their homeworlds, but Slide doesn't want to hear it; she is disgusted that Oiler has been buried in the camp populated by his killers, the Junkions, and is determined to hold onto her hate.

While walking through the city streets, Jetfire bumps into his old acquaintance Deluge. Unfortunately, it's not a happy reunion—Deluge is running with the Decepticons now, and lures Jetfire into an ambush by Horri-Bull and Needlenose, who beat Jetfire for his betrayal of their cause. Before they can finish him off, though, bright lights shine on them, and thinking they have been found by the cops, the Decepticons beat a quick retreat. It's not the cops, however: it's a good samaritan named Bumblebee who has come to Jetfire's aid. The angry Jetfire does not take the time to be thankful, though, and swats 'Bee away before storming off.

Marissa and Pyra drive around Bikini Atoll, observing the Junkions as they work. The junkpile robots have eschewed Autobot aid as much as they can, Pyra notes, continuing to live their lives moment to moment, scavenging and scrounging without regard for the consequences of their actions. Punctuating Pyra's point, a group of Junkions manage to bring a building down on top of themselves by carelessly pulling bits of scrap out of it; Pyra is keen to teach them the importance of unity and building for the future, so she goes to help pull them out of the wreckage. Stormclash and Skyburst arrive to aid her, and Marissa admits to some surprise at Pyra's compassion, given the general air of hostility she projects. Pyra concedes she does struggle to deal with others whose actions she cannot properly understand—but in Marissa, she sees someone very much like herself. Together, she proposes... together, they could take down Optimus Prime, and together, shape the future of Earth.

The battered Jetfire returns to work, where his injuries prompt the snarky Nosecone to assume he's been out delivering some two-fisted justice like the "hot shot" Nosecone thinks he is. Nosecone returns the gun he has been studying to Jetfire, and informs him that it has yielded no useful information—Prowl just used it as an excuse to get Jetfire in the lab. And again, Jetfire wonders about the path he has found himself on...

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Junkions G.I. Joe Others

Quotes

"I wasn't sure you'd actually show up."
"Betray my friends and my goals and work with a guy who literally beat me up in an interrogation? Why wouldn't I?"

—Prowl and Jetfire


"You know who my father was?"
"One half of a mating pair whose offspring—"

—The president talks family, but Optimus Prime gets the wrong end of the stick


"There are things I know are right that I know I'll never see in my lifetime. You learn to try and make things less bad, if you can't make them good."
"The worthwhile path... versus the unrealistic goal."

—The president and Optimus


"Fliers don't have the patience for science."
"And... what do you turn into?"
"A boring vehicle."
"Well, I think science can be exciting. You don't need to—"
"No, a vehicle that bores. Into the ground. For research."

—Nosecone and Jetfire


"[The Junkions] don't catalog things. And they've got no idea what's useful to humans. I mean, maybe they have a cancer cure. But they don't get cancer, so they don't know. The point is we're figuring it out. This is going to change the world for the better."
"Wishful thinking. Change isn't always good."
"But always necessary."

—Marissa and Flint


"I can't change modes! I'm not even a Transformer anymore! Without Oiler, I'm nothing! We were a bonded pair. If you don't understand what that means, what it means to lose that bond... well, you're like the Prime."

—Slide


"Earth belongs to those who would shape it into something greater..."

—Pyra Magna

Notes

Continuity notes

  • According to the President, a year has passed between Optimus Prime's "conquest" of Earth, as seen in All Hail Optimus, and the recent Junkion crisis.
  • The photographs of Hefter that Prowl views were previously viewed by Orion Pax in issue #1.
  • The President counts off four separate alien invasions that have occurred during her term in office. In addition to the Junkions, two of those other three must be the mass Decepticon invasion of Shanghai in The Transformers #49 and the Dire Wraiths during Revolution. It's not quite clear what the fourth is; if she's counting the Cybertronians as one "invasion" in general, then we guess she might be referring to the invasion of Baron Karza's Microspace army, as seen over in Micronauts: Wrath of Karza—but we don't actually know if that story has occurred relative to this one yet.
  • Nosecone's appearance in this issue is the origin of his working relationship with Jetfire; he and the other Technobots were shown working under Jetfire as part of a science team in their first IDW appearance, all the way back in Stormbringer #1.
  • Aileron recalls the death of her best friend, Sterling, in The Transformers #50. As she remembers him, D.0.C. also thinks about his absent friend, Buster; they've been hanging out a lot together with Thundercracker following their original meeting and team-up in The Transformers #48.
  • Arcee mentions Nova Major's unification of the Thirteen Tribes, which we saw the beginnings of in The Transformers #34.
  • Jazz's killing of John Powell took place in issue #17 of the 2009-2011 ongoing series, when the cop was holding a Cybertronian weapon on Bumblebee and appeared poised to pull the trigger. The president also mentions his later interference in an arrest, which took place in The Transformers #51.
  • Jetfire's friendliness with Deluge likely owes to their common occupation as scientists. Deluge previously appeared back in All Hail Megatron, in which he engineered the Insecticon swarm.
  • The events of this issue take place prior to the Bumblebee story in the 2017 Transformers annual, meaning that this is Jetfire's first brief meeting with 'Bee. Bumblebee's remark that "everybody needs help sometimes" reflects the lesson he himself has to learn in that story.
  • Marissa refers to her last meeting with Pyra Magna, during which Pyra asked Optimus if she should kill the humans, which took place in The Transformers #50.

Transformers references

Real-life references

  • This issue's title is taken from the lyrics of the David Bowie song, "The Next Day."
  • Marissa says that Pyra Magna sounds like actress Elizabeth Taylor.
  • In addition to English, Pyra says she is becoming fluent in Putonghua (the standardized form of the Chinese language spoken in Mainland China) and Linux, the computer operating system.

Errors

  • Aileron's eyes are miscolored as blue on pages 6 and 7. Oddly enough they are colored with the usual yellow on the last panel on page 10, being blank on the rest of the page.
  • The silhouetted figure heard swearing by the Darkspark has big Seeker-like shoulder intakes, but none of the three Decepticons present have those.

Covers (4)

  • Regular cover: Optimus Prime holds the glowing Matrix, with Pyra Magna, Marissa, and the President in the background, by Kei Zama and Josh Burcham
  • Subscription cover A: The Junkions build a statue of Optimus Prime, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove
  • Subscription cover B: Optimus and Thundercracker watch as Marissa and Buster build a sand-sculpture of Prime, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
  • Retailer incentive cover: Optimus Prime, Pyra Magna, and Jetfire, by Priscilla Tramontano; later reused for the cover of the Volume 2 TPB.
  • (thumbnail)

    The President sure can make a "stank-face", can't she?

  • (thumbnail)

    As seen on TV.

  • (thumbnail)

    "She's very... fit, eh Thundercracker?"

  • (thumbnail)

    Prime and friends.

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