Foundation issue 1

« Transformers: Foundation #1 »
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 23, 2011
Writer	John Barber
Art	Andrew Griffith
Colors	Priscilla Tramontano
Letters	Chris Mowry
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Cover	Brian Rood Andrew Griffith
Continuity	Live-action film series

Victory in the battle to save Cybertron from extinction heralds the dawn of a brand new day... and the beginning of a resentment that will shatter the Transformer race forever.

Synopsis

Corrosive rain falls on Cybertron, searing the metal skin of Megatron, who laughs maniacally into the storm that Optimus Prime is coming for him, and will not stop until he is dead. And Prime is coming, fighting his way through an army of Decepticons with Elita-One, Ironhide and other luckless warriors at his side. Prime has changed, Megatron realizes... changed so much from that time, long ago...

Thousands of years ago on Cybertron, Optimus, Megatron and Elita were among the followers of Sentinel Prime, an ancient Cybertronian who claims to be a descendant of Primus. With Cybertron's energy supply dwindling, prompting an increase in factionalization and in-fighting over remaining energy supplies, Sentinel Prime and his pupils set out to save the world by unearthing the long-forgotten AllSpark, but upon successfully finding the relic, they are beset by the heretic Thetacons, a militant faction who refuse to accept Sentinel's teachings. Through the technical genius of Wheeljack, a sun is teleported into the skies above Cybertron, and its energy revitalizes the AllSpark, filling Cybertron with energon, and new life. Seeing that Sentinel's teachings were right all along, the Thetacons lay down their arms, but Megatron is not so willing to forgive, and clashes with the Thetacon Ironhide. Optimus calms the situation, but Ironhide cannot understand what they plan to do with the AllSpark, if they have no desire for subjugation. Sentinel Prime explains that an ancient word spoken by the Dynasty of Primes will now be what defines the Transformer race: "freedom", the right of all sentient beings.

With life restored to Cybertron, new hatchlings emerging at a rapid rate, and the Thetacons building a temple around the AllSpark as a form of recompense, Optimus decides to accompany Elita-One back to her home city of Metrotitan to see her sisters. Megatron, however, is far less content, as is Shockwave, who confides in Megatron that is he unsure what a world of peace and so-called "freedom" holds for him. As Cybertron's new sun sets at the end of its first day, Megatron spies upon a meeting between Sentinel Prime and Optimus, and overhears as Sentinel announces that, rather than go with Elita, Prime will instead accompany him to Trypticon, there to establish a government with a new leader for Cybertron. Optimus is confused, as all the tribal leaders have already given Sentinel their support... but Sentinel explains that he shall not be leader—Optimus shall. From the shadows, Megatron grimaces as he hears Sentinel declare Optimus to be Optimus Prime.

As Optimus viciously tears his way through the Decepticons that stand in his way, Elita begs him to stand down by telling him that this violence is not who he is. But to Prime, Megatron's death is all that matters now...

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I've never seen him like this."
"He's never been like this, Elita-One. This is something new."

– Elita-One and Ironhide observe Optimus in a rage.

"How much longer do you need?"
"I am relativistically warping space-time in seventeen dimensions to within a tolerance of three microns – I'll need at least five more minutes."
"I see."

– Wheeljack asks for a little more time from Sentinel Prime

"No Transformer will ever again be forced to bow down to another."
"Speak for yourself, Optimus."

– Optimus and Megatron disagree on a lot of things.

"'Freedom.' And it is the right of all sentient beings."

–Sentinel Prime

Notes

• The bulk of this issue takes the form of a flashback, set some time before the events of the earlier IDW movie prequel, Transformers: Defiance. The issue contains a few callbacks to concepts introduced in that mini-series, namely that the AllSpark is powered by suns. The bookends of the issue fall during Defiance itself, specifically during the gulf of time glossed over in issue #4.
• "Deadguy" and "Cannonfodder", the two generic Autobots who accompany Optimus, Ironhide and Elita into battle, had their names revealed by artist Andrew Griffith.^[1] Cannonfodder is the brownish-gold one, designed as a cross between Arcee and Bumblebee; they're both male, despite the fembot influences.
• Meanwhile, the army of Decepticons they clash with are all based on existing characters, although their new color schemes and violent deaths presumably mean that they're generics. The designs seen are: Crankcase (specifically, his Don Figueroa look seen in Defiance #3), Hardtop, Ramjet, Divebomb, Dreadwing, Payload, Brawl's vehicle mode (again as seen in Defiance #3), Stockade, and Wreckage.
• The citadel Megatron is waiting at was previously briefly seen in the hologram of Cybertron the Autobots showed Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes in the first movie.
• Wheeljack notes he is warping space and time in "seventeen dimensions", a callback to the easily missed content of the AllSpark-induced mid-class science-ramble Sam Witwicky goes on in the Revenge of the Fallen movie, in which he noted there were seventeen other dimensions besides our own. Specifically, Sam made reference to the "Sentinel Prime expedition" in the same breath, and while the exact meaning of his babbling was unclear, it would appear that this cross-dimensional search for a sun was the "expedition" in question.
• This issue explores the relationship that exists between Optimus and Elita-One, an emulation of the bond between Generation 1 Prime and Elita that has not been seen with the movie universe characters before now. This relationship also factors into the concurrently-published Rising Storm miniseries, including a shared theme of Elita "not telling" Optimus Prime things about herself.
• Hatchlings, previously seen in the Revenge of the Fallen movie appear here hale and hearty. They are being tended to by Flatline, the Decepticon mad scientist previously seen in Tales of the Fallen #6—that has some fairly creepy implications!
• Elita mentions "two little sisters"—coupled with what we learn in Rising Storm #1, it's obvious she's referring to Arcee and Chromia.
• Ironhide's arm-mounted cannons aren't just a personal preference—check out how lots of the Thetacons sport very similar armaments.
• Sentinel Prime is described as a descendant of the first Cybertronian, Primus: this will be gone into more in the next issue. While an unusual presentation of the figure normally presented as the Transformers' god, it's not without precedent.
• Where previous movie universe comics have depicted pre-Earth Optimus Prime in the solid silverish color of his Protoform toy, this issue adds some (much-needed) traditionally Optimussy blue and red to the scheme. Similarly, the gun he is seen wielding is his Protoform toy's weapon, but with some new details and parts added to make it evoke Generation 1 Optimus Prime's ion blaster.
  • Interestingly, Takara would go on to release a redeco of the Protoform Optimus Prime mold in the Movie Advanced Series toyline which shared a fairly similar color layout.
• Sentinel Prime's Cybertronian mode is colored red here, as opposed to the gold seen in the teaser trailer for Dark of the Moon. The reason for this is that Priscilla Tramontano only had his Earth mode as reference for when she colored the issue.^[2] In the final film however, the shots of Sentinel's Cybertronian body have been retouched to give him the red coloring of his Earth mode, making his appearance here more accurate than first believed.

Errors

• Brian Rood's cover for this issue depicts Megatron in a mash-up of his first-movie body and his Revenge of the Fallen body, rather than the wholly first-movie body he sports in the story.
• Megatron has red eyes and his first movie body/head design throughout the story, when, per Defiance #2, he should not have them until he becomes corrupted by The Fallen.
• Trypticon is misspelled as "Tripticon".

Covers (2)

• Cover A: Optimus Prime and Megatron by Brian Rood
• Cover RI: Optimus Prime by Andrew Griffith and Priscilla Tramontano

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References