Destiny, Part One

« The Transformers: Regeneration One #91 »
"Destiny" Part One
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 8, 2013 (initial digital release) May 15, 2013 (full release)
Cover date	April 2013
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	John-Paul Bove
Color assists	James Stayte
Letterer	Chris Mowry
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

As Cybertron and Nebulos pick up the pieces after Scorponok's tampering, Hot Rod finds that being called the leader doesn't mean the citizenry will obey, while Bludgeon, Galvatron, and Jhiaxus plan.

Synopsis

Aboard the Warworld, in orbit above the planet Cresta Superior, Bludgeon stages a demonstration of his new Blitz Engines for Soundwave by unleashing them on the unsuspecting world below. Brought to life by the power of the Creation Matrix energy drained from the reconstructed remains of Thunderwing, the self-regenerating death machines utterly obliterate Cresta Superior's dominant species, impressing even the unreadable Soundwave. Preparations complete, the Warworld's engines fire, and it heads for Cybertron...

On the Transformers' homeworld, acting leader Hot Rod meets with his advisers at the Presidium to discuss the fallout of Scorponok's plan to reprogram the populace. On the face of it, things are getting back to normal, but the Decepticon's scheme has left deep emotional scars in those affected by the Gene Key, and tensions are running high throughout the city. These tensions are felt by Ultra Magnus, who is busy elsewhere delivering a speech to his sorely-depleted Civil Defense Force, though their response to his urging them to do their best to keep the peace is less than enthusiastic. Magnus wearily dismisses his troops, and is then informed by Trailbreaker of a communication from Optimus Prime on Earth. Magnus and Prime confer on current events, noting the dispatch of the Rescue Patrol to Nebulos to help heal the damage Scorponok did there, and wondering if there is a joint way forward for the two worlds. Magnus voices his concern over Hot Rod's thus-far ineffective leadership and his absence during Scorponok's attack, but Prime claims his unpopular decisions only mean he is growing as a leader, and that the threat of Galvatron is of much greater concern, as he's convinced he is somehow a reborn Megatron...

In the void of space, the Ark soars for Cybertron, with Galvatron on the bridge, reflecting on his past. In his native timeline, he watched as Unicron devoured Cybertron despite his wishes, leaving him only Earth to rule. But in this time, Galvatron vows, Cybertron will be his...

On his way to Eugenesis Plaza to address the masses, Hot Rod tells Kup about the visions he has been seeing, which he now believes are not of Cybertron's past, but its future: the future that will come to pass if the Transformers do not reunify with the banished Demons. He attempts to explain this sentiment in his subsequent speech to the assembled inhabitants of Iacon, but the crowd is already angry and unreceptive. Given the atmosphere, after a few words are surreptitiously whispered in the right ears by Spinister and Needlenose it's not long before a grenade is hurled at Hot Rod, and the whole plaza erupts in rioting and violence. Kup ushers Hot Rod to safety, but tells the youth that even he does not support his decision, and urges him to cede command to Ultra Magnus. His resolve badly shaken, Hot Rod calls up Trailbreaker and requests to speak to Magnus in order to carry out Kup's wishes, but just then, the Dinobots enter. They have heard about Hot Rod's plan to venture back into the Demon-infested underground, and volunteer to go with him, as they believe that Grimlock is down there as well, following his fall into the Sonic Canyons. The group don't believe that he has perished; Slag explains that they would know if he was dead, and their "blind, intuitive faith" stirs Hot Rod to action. As Magnus comes onto the viewscreen, Hot Rod orders him to ensure Iacon is rebuilt and secure by the time he and the Dinobots return from their mission.

On the scorched remains of Cresta Superior, a sharp, silvery Transformer touches down, and reports to his commanding officer that there are no signs of life on the planet. Traces of Matrix life-energy make clear that Cybertronians were responsible, and the commander—Jhiaxus, sitting on his throne at the heart of the perfect web of planets that is the Hub—realizes that this collision between the old and the new was destiny.

And in the realm of the Zero Space, the absolute nothingness at the end of all time... the crack widens...

Featured characters

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

Quotes

"Citizens of Cybertron... when Optimus Prime asked me to step up and steer the ship in his absence I thought he must be delusional--"
"SO DID WE!"

—Hot Rod gets a warm reception to his speech from hecklers.

"Sweet mercy... It's the end! The end!"
"But it nev-eeeeagh!"

—Amongst some groups, the penalty for Furmanising is instant death.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• There's a little green dude amongst the Transformers performing crowd control for Hot Rod during his speech on page 14. As it can't be Rack'n'Ruin, it's presumably a miscolored Sandstorm, who appears colored properly among the riot-controllers on page 16.

Continuity errors

• In an error recurring from #81, Optimus Prime shouldn't know Galvatron's name. See that page for more details.

Continuity notes

• Thunderwing's remains appear to have been fully reconstructed—even parts which were missing in the exploded view we had of his corpse in #86 have reappeared. This mismatched purple-and-green color scheme the corpse is sporting suggests Bludgeon had to use a few spare parts from other sources to hold him all together.
• Inferno and Slag were both previously shown to be suffering from Nucleon exposure. As Inferno is part of crowd control, and Slag is with the other Dinobots (and no longer feral) it would seem that the Autobots moved swiftly to put Scorponok's research (recovered in the previous issue) to work. It is possible both were cured of Nucleon's effects via the same process Grimlock was, though this isn't explicitly mentioned.
• In Galvatron's flashback to the destruction of his Cybertron, an unseen victim of Unicron's is heard to scream "It's the end!" Another voice is about to contradict him with the famous Furmanism, "It never ends!", but only gets out "But it nev-" before screaming.

Real-life references

Other trivia

• The issue was initially released digitally on 8 May 2013, a week before print. As IDW had released full previews the week before, it appears the release before the printed version was due to a delay in the latter rather than, as has happened multiple times, the digital version being accidentally advanced.

Transformers references

• Seen cleaning debris out of Maccadam's Old Oil House on page 5 is the bartender that appeared in "Out to Lunch!" from issue #240 of the UK series. That story was in black and white, but here, the character appears with the blue color scheme that he was given in new artwork of the bar in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide.
• "Eugenesis Plaza", the scene of Hot Rod's disastrous speech, appears to be named for James Roberts' fanfic novel, Eugenesis, in which Rodimus suffers an assassination attempt while giving a speech.
• Rook notes "trace elements of AllSpark source matter" on the ruined Cresta Superior from the rampage of Bludgeon's Creation Matrix-infused Blitz Engines.
• While Jhiaxus's body appears to be faithful to his original Generation 2 design, Rook is unrecognizable, transforming from a bird-like jet into a spindly all-silver form.

Furminated

• Magnus notes that in Scorponok's uprising over ninety percent of his Civil Defense Force were wiped out. Ouch.

Covers (3)

• 

  Cover A

• 

  Cover B

• 

  Cover RI

• Cover A: Bludgeon cutting Cybertron in half, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
• Cover B: A split image, with Earth on the left and Nebulos on the right, and a faded Optimus Prime looking over both, by Guido Guidi.
• Cover RI: Galvatron poses over a chasm, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham.

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• Robots in Disguise #17
• More than Meets the Eye #17
• IDW Limited Transformers books
• IDW Dynamic Forces exclusives, including Spotlight: Trailcutter
• Beast Hunters comic
• Regular Show
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: City Fall (back cover)

External links

• Simon Furman's Script (W)rap
• Pages 1-5 Commentary