Stormbringer issue 4

	; Everyone vs Thunderwing. Everyone is outnumbered.
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 18, 2006
Cover date	October 2006
Story by	Simon Furman
Art by	Don Figueroa
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Sulaco Studios
Edits by	Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	2006-7

Thunderwing is coming home, and now it's up to the Autobots and Decepticons to atone for their mistakes.

Synopsis

From Bludgeon's command bunker, the Wreckers and Optimus Prime watch as the rogue Thunderwing enters transwarp space, powering home to Cybertron. Jetfire has a theory of his own: without the guiding influence of the axis cradle, Thunderwing is operating under his own power again, and though he still has no conscious mind to speak of, his body is operating by rote and is intent on finishing what he started. The Autobot flier digs into Bludgeon's files, trying to learn more about the mysterious "Ultra-Energon" that the Decepticon used in the first place.

As he does so, Prime and the Wreckers gear up for action: Prime is adamant that Thunderwing must be stopped by any means necessary, gravely noting to an incredulous Springer that, if it comes down to it, he'll destroy Cybertron itself to stop the abomination. The Autobots aren't the only ones preparing for the coming conflict; under Megatron's orders, the Predacons aboard the Decepticon warship Thanatos prepare to bombard Cybertron from orbit in order to destroy Thunderwing once and for all. Razorclaw harbors reservations, and orders his crew to hold off the bombardment, just in time to see Thunderwing rematerialize in low orbit.

Thunderwing crashes down onto the surface of Cybertron, but as the Wreckers watch on, Thunderwing stands motionless. Some part of Thunderwing's ravaged mind flashes back to the days before the destruction of Cybertron—when a disgusted Megatron terminated his experiments into polydermal grafting, forcing him to go rogue and commit greater and greater atrocities in the name of survival—and, as those memories surface once more, the mindless monster that was once Thunderwing suddenly unleashes a crackling torrent of energy on the Autobots! The Wreckers regroup to launch a joint assault on the beast, but neither their airborne barrage or Twin Twist's up-close assault have any effect.

As the Autobots engage Thunderwing, Razorclaw watches their efforts, and the conflicted Decepticon reaches an internal compromise: he orders Divebomb to lead two assault teams down to Thunderhead Pass, but once their cannons are charged, they'll fire regardless of who's on the ground.

In Bludgeon's Base, Optimus paces as Jetfire decrypts another piece of Bludgeon's files. This data, Jetfire believes, may be the key to defeating Thunderwing; the Ultra-Energon he runs on is powerful but short-lived, and the more energy he expends, the faster he burns himself out. This vital knowledge isn't passed on to the Wreckers, however, who fight a desperate rearguard action until Springer is caught off-guard by an exploding pocket of natural gas... only to be saved by Divebomb! Divebomb's assault teams arrive and open fire on Thunderwing, buying time for Optimus Prime and a legion of reprogrammed Centurions to arrive and wade into the fray.

The combined onslaught seems to weaken Thunderwing—a respite that's only temporary, as the Pretender transforms into an intimidating "ultra mode" to continue the fight, wiping out the Centurions. As the Thanatos's firing timer ticks down to the point of no return, Razorclaw orders his Decepticons back, ready to destroy Cybertron for the greater good, until Optimus steps up to finish the fight.

Optimus opens fire on the monster, bringing his entire arsenal to bear as he expounds on what's led them to this point: every Cybertronian is complicit in what happened to Cybertron, and while Thunderwing was more forward thinking than most, his "solution" to the problem was what led to the destruction of Cybertron. While Optimus has long ruminated on his failure to save his world, stopping Thunderwing, he declares, is the first step towards absolving his guilt and healing his world. As Optimus pours on the firepower, the timer towards the Decepticon bombing run ticks ever downward... until a spent Thunderwing runs out of fuel and collapses, allowing Razorclaw to abort the bombing run at the last second.

The Autobots gather around Thunderwing's prone body to make sure he's really offline. Optimus is still uneasy, wondering where Bludgeon got the mysterious Ultra-Energon in the first place, and orders Jetfire to scour Bludgeon's files for any more information. Returning to the Autobot command hub aboard Ark-27, Optimus Prime receives a communiqué from Jetfire, who has uncovered further information in Bludgeon's files—a Decepticon plan, Regenesis, involving a planet called Earth. Connecting this information with the update he received from Prowl's unit, Prime orders a change of course.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Decepticons

Quotes

"That thing's its own personal ground zero!"

—Roadbuster on Thunderwing

"This planet — or at least, what's left of it — remains a testament to our short-sightedness. A reminder that in war... there are no real winners. Part of me feared coming back here, but in truth I never left. At long last, I can confront my own demons, acknowledge once and for all my fallibility, my accountability... and let the healing begin."

—Optimus Prime pontificates as he blasts Thunderwing

Notes

Continuity notes

So how did Bludgeon find out about Regenesis and Ore-13? Check out "Spotlight: Shockwave" and "Spotlight: Soundwave" to get the full story!
Optimus Prime's last appearance has him heading to Earth—partially due to his desire to figure out the mystery of Ore-13, and partially because of Ironhide's transmission that he received in issue #1 of the miniseries—setting up his debut in Infiltration issue #6 and leading directly into the events of Escalation.
First appearances: The entire Decepticon cast, apart from Thunderwing, Megatron and Razorclaw.

Transformers references

Thunderwing's "ultra mode" seems loosely adapted from the 1988 Mega Pretenders, of which Thunderwing was a part of, who could combine with their outer shells to form a sort of powered-up "Super Mode".

Real-life references

The Decepticon warship Thanatos is named after Thanatos, the Greek deity of death.
"There's no place like home," quips Razorclaw, quoting the iconic line from the original Wizard of Oz. film.
As he speeds towards Thunderwing, Topspin proudly declares that when people ask him why he fought Thunderwing one-on-one, he'll say "because it was there," paraphrasing mountaineer George Mallory's famous quote about scaling Mt. Everest. (Not Edmund Hillary!) Of course, this declaration also fits Topspin's usual "bot against nature" mentality perfectly.

Other trivia

The A covers of each issue can be combined into a giant image which was later shrunken down for the trade paperback.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Battle against Thunderwing wraparound cover by Don Figueroa. This cover can be combined with similar ones from the other three issues to form a giant battle scene.
Cover B: Optimus Prime sketch cover by Don Figueroa
Cover RI: Cover A uncolored