Constructicons Rising, Part 1

	; Is he man, or is he monster? Or... is he both?
	"Constructicons Rising, Part 1"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 25, 2019
Cover date	September 2019
Written by	Tyler Bleszinski
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte and Tom Waltz
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity

Once the most respected builders on Cybertron, now eking out a miserable life on a desolate colony, Hook and Scrapper remember their first job... and the discovery that changed everything.

Synopsis

On the barren Cybertronian colony of Mayalx, Hook and Scrapper take the chance to unwind while working on the local energon refinery. As the stars come out, Hook wistfully watches a distant light in the sky: the shimmering light in the heavens that is their homeworld, Cybertron, and the destination for the fuel they ship out, day after day. Scrapper admits that he still misses it, and Hook tries to cheer up his homesick friend by reminding him that they're the ones responsible for modern Cybertron's beauty. Their reminiscing is interrupted, however, when Mixmaster and the other Constructicons—tired and grouchy from their enforced underfuelling—cut in to report on the project status. Scrapper sorts out their problems and sends them all on their way, while Hook looks down at the half-finished colony taking shape and admits that he aimed to recreate the distant city of Iacon. Hook's words remind Scrapper of his first visit to the city...

Many years ago, in the days following the end of the War of the Threefold Spark, engineer Wheeljack presents a status report to his leader Termagax, and his news isn't good: although cleanup crews are already working overtime, Iacon has been nearly levelled by years of warfare, and the rest of Cybertron isn't in much better shape. Wheeljack's first emotion is to despair, for how could they ever restore the city to its former beauty, let alone the entire planet?

Termagax reminds Wheeljack to look on the bright side, as the devastation of Iacon has also given them the opportunity to reshape their ravaged world into something even greater, with the help of her newest recruits. As if on cue, six young Cybertronians trundle over the horizon in their vehicle modes, and Termagax introduces them one by one as they transform: enthusiastic demolitions expert Bonecrusher, preoccupied chemical engineer Mixmaster, put-upon inventory specialist Long Haul, acceptance-craving miner Scavenger, eager architect Hook, and, finally, overall project manager Scrapper. These recently-forged "Constructicons" have already found their ideal careers, adopted a suitable alternate mode, and left their mentors to embark on their new career—rebuilding Iacon!

As Termagax leads the building team through the ruins, towards Central Architectural and Design Headquarters, Wheeljack and Scrapper don't get off on the right foot: Wheeljack advocates traditional, methodical reconstruction, while Scrapper argues that they should prioritize the most damaged buildings first. Termagax breaks the standoff by agreeing with Scrapper's methods, and when Wheeljack points out that they've always done things this way, Termagax retorts that this slavish adherence to tradition means that they've never truly been able to rebuild—only reconstruct.

Once Scrapper's team has settled into their new post at headquarters, Wheeljack grudgingly briefs the team on their first assignment: they'll be starting in the ruins of Rivets Field to gather materials for the upcoming rebuilding efforts. Hook, arrogant as ever, is quick to download the schematics for the region; Termagax, sensing Wheeljack's tension, gently reminds him that Scrapper and his team have potential—and their new perspectives mean that they'll be able to do things that neither of them have ever dreamed.

Scrapper remembers Wheeljack, alright. After all, he grumbles, it was his decision to assign them to Rivets Field, the place where it really all began for the Constructicons... where Scavenger made the discovery that changed everything.

As the Constructicons begin their work, Scavenger detects an unusual subterranean energy pulse; thanks to Bonecrusher, the team quickly excavate the unusual artifact. None of them are able to determine just what it is, however, though they're struck by a strange feeling of "connectedness" as they take their discovery back to Termagax to show her. Termagax is uncharacteristically surprised by their find—for they've uncovered the mythical, long-lost Enigma of Combination! Termagax explains the nature of the artifact to the young Constructicons, and offers them a rare opportunity. Their strong teamwork skills have given them a shared purpose, and that shared purpose will allow them to properly harness the Enigma's power, unite their bodies and minds, and become the ultimate building tool.

Scrapper puts it to a vote, and their decision is as swift as it is unanimous. Mixmaster wants to learn more about the combination process. Hook sees it as an opportunity to increase his architectural skills. Long Haul wants his teammates to pull their weight for a change. Bonecrusher exults at the prospect of doing demolition with his bare fists. And Scavenger... Scavenger just wants to be included.

Hook wonders just how much easier their current assignment on Mayalx would be if they still combined, but Scrapper has other thoughts on his mind. Were they fated, he wonders, to dig up the relic that would change their life?

Termagax watches as the six Constructicons crowd around the Enigma and instructs them to focus their minds, dismissing Wheeljack's own concerns over her cavalier attitude towards the lives of her six recruits, who cry out in agony as the Enigma's energy courses through their bodies. Termagax refuses to give in, and encourages them to push through the pain... and as she speaks, the six 'bots are joined together, their individual components reborn as a towering combiner! The engineer shouts to the new combiner to focus on its new purpose, only for the combiner to promptly lose consciousness and topple over. Wheeljack wonders how they'll ever get the combiner up and moving, but Termagax already has a plan: like every newborn Transformer, they'll have to take things one step at a time.

Hook fondly remembers those first moments of being a combiner; Scrapper agrees, but remembers that mastering their new form didn't come easy...

Wheeljack and Termagax encourage the combiner to get back up on his feet and to loosen the ground beneath their feet for salvage. Termagax reminds them to think together, as a unit; in one ferocious spasm of violence, the gargantuan Cybertronian easily shatters the ground beneath his feet with a single punch. As he collapses back into his components, and Wheeljack exults at the prospect of doing ten cycles of salvage in a single punch, Termagax asks Scrapper how he's feeling; the Constructicon leader is exhausted by the experience, disoriented by sharing his mind with five others, and alarmed at the presence of a seventh consciousness fighting him for control of the combiner.

Termagax warns Scrapper that he can't "lead" the combiner the way he leads his teammates, and, furthermore, that they should never try to combine without a purpose. Many years ago, she tells him, another group of Cybertronians used the Enigma; unlike the Constructicons, however, they never shared a common goal, and devolved into an "abomination" who carved a path of destruction across Cybertron in search of fuel, until the day its rampage was finally ended at Rivets Field. That, Termagax surmises, must be how the Enigma wound up buried beneath Rivets Field. Mixmaster snaps that she should've told them this earlier; Termagax argues that, if she had, then they might not have taken the risk—and besides, she points out, their unity has already made them superior to the Enigma's previous wielders.

While the Constructicons recover, Wheeljack and Termagax transform and drive off. Wheeljack remains worried about the sheer power of the Constructicon combiner, but Termagax remains adamant that she made the right choice: the Constructicons have devoted themseleves to construction, building better and better things. As long as the Constructicons stick to that path, then their combined form will reflect their inner desires... but Wheeljack still has his doubts.

Scrapper fondly remembers the weeks that followed: under Termagax, the Constructicons learned to master their abilities and became a one-man construction team, wrecking, building, lifting, hauling... until, finally, Iacon stood whole once more, better than new. It's a far cry from their current lot in life, despite Hook's notorious perfectionism and his insistence that their latest construction rivals Iacon's beauty. Long Haul reports that the latest energon shipment is good to go, but glumly acknowledges that they've only just met their daily quota, and that they'll not get any extra fuel this cycle. As Scavenger moans that they'll never function at full capacity again, a frustrated Hook lashes out by hurling a spare girder at the worksite below, where it inadvertently hits another laborer. Although the architect immediately regrets losing his temper, Scrapper reminds him to keep his emotions in check: even if they're underfuelled, Cybertron is still afraid of them, and one reckless action could immediately dash their hopes of going home, to say nothing of the fact that the Enigma's code could still be affecting their systems.

Hungry to recapture their past glories, stewing in their resentment of the world that left them behind, none of the Constructicons are aware that they're being watched from afar, by a 'bot who cackles that this group will be perfect for his plans... Bombshell!

Featured characters

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

Ascenticons

Cybertronians

Bombshell (11)

Quotes

"Scavenger, like my former apprentice Megatron, is a miner at heart."
"And you like him, right, Termagax? It's a good thing that I'm like Megatron?"

—Termagax introduces Scavenger

"I'm already carrying all of your weight, might as well see if this finally gets you to haul a load or two."

—Long Haul

"Imagine how much easier it would've been to build this if we still combined. You would all be able to share in my efficiency again."

—Hook

"The Constructicons chose to create—to build and rebuild—not destroy. As long as they remain of that purpose, the combined form should take on the characteristics of the parts."
"Should."

—Termagax and Wheeljack engage in some foreshadowing

Notes

Continuity notes

The flashback portions for this issue are set in the immediate aftermath of the destructive "War of the Threefold Spark," a conflict alluded to (though, as of writing, not yet entirely explained) several times in the ongoing Transformers comic.
The Constructicons are noted to have left their mentors early; this rite of passage was established in Transformers #1, where newly-forged Cybertronians are given the opportunity to explore Cybertron with the help of a caretaker until they decide on a career and a suitable alternate mode. This issue also reveals that Termagax was Megatron's mentor, something that's been heavily implied in the ongoing, but not explicitly confirmed until now.
This isn't the first time that energon has been discussed; in issue #3 of the ongoing, Froid mentioned that the bloodthirsty war veteran Quake was kept deliberately underfuelled in peacetime for the safety of both him and those around him. Certainly, this raises some ominous questions as to just how the Constructicons got kicked off Cybertron...
Termagax makes her earliest chronological appearance. Her musings that the rebuilding efforts will help their civilization "ascend" to the next level of progress is a deliberate call-forward to her eventual founding of the Ascenticon movement.
Termagax notes that rebuilding shifts have been "organized by occupation," with miners doing the brunt of the cleanup. Transformers #6 had both Orion Pax and then-miner Megatron working together on one such cleanup crew, though that scene must be set after the flashback portions in this comic, as dialogue between Orion and Megatron indicated that the Constructicons had by then already established a reputation for themselves as talented builders.
Back in her appearance in issue #7, Termagax asked Megatron about unspecified "artifacts" which she felt the Senate wasn't looking for. Here, we see the Enigma is one of those artifacts.
As she surveys the ruins of Iacon, Termagax murmurs that she's found a spot to attach the Tether—as per issue #2 of the ongoing, this great space elevator will be anchored in the city and run between Cybertron and her other engineering masterpiece, the energon-processing planetoid known as the Winged Moon.
Wheeljack's appearance as a close confidant of Termagax's may explain why, following Termagax's abandonment of Cybertronian civilization, he's evidently taken over the day-to-day operations of both the Winged Moon and the Tether, as seen in Transformers #2 and #5.

Transformers references

This isn't the first time that the Constructicons have been depicted as former good guys: in one of, er, several origin stories given in the original cartoon, "The Secret of Omega Supreme" revealed that they had once been friendly builders who had been Robo-Smashed into destructive villains, while Transformers Animated similarly depicted them as blue-collar workers who were tempted into joining the Decepticons by Megatron.
Rivets Field originated in IDW's More than Meets the Eye as a semi-prominent location; Tailgate was born from the hot spot there, and it later served as the launch pad for the Lost Light.
Scavenger's ability to sense the energies of the Enigma of Combination before any of his other comrades appears to be a reference to his original Tech Spec, which established that he possessed a powerful scanner suite in his shovel arm that allowed him to discover useful objects while digging.
The Enigma of Combination was a key object in the latter years of the first IDW continuity; originating in the pages of 2014's The Transformers vol. 2, the artifact went on to have a major role in the "Combiner Wars" crossover event, and returned in Unicron. Physically, this version of the Enigma is identical to that version, which first appeared in Robots in Disguise #34; additionally, Termagax speaks of its "source code," a concept that appeared in The Transformers vol. 2 #45. The concept that Transformers must share a common goal in order to properly use the Enigma is a new one, however: the original iteration of the Engima could amalgamate any group of Transformers into a fully-functional combiner, whether they wanted to or not.
Hook's disdainful assessment of his teammates as "bores" seems like a nod to his famous line in The Transformers: The Movie, where he dismissed Soundwave as an "uncharismatic bore."

Devastator's cartoon counterpart was the subject of a rather infamous animation error. Depending on the animation studio, and sometimes even within the same episode, he would switch back and forth between his two character models: one with a toy-accurate, two-eyed head, and the other with the visored face that would eventually become the more famous of the two. In reference to this old mistake, the combiner that will become "Devastator" is created with a two-eyed visage... who then, as he learns to control his strength, activates a built-in visor, something Takara pulled off with Unite Warriors Devastator, though the Constructicons themselves are colored to match Hasbro's Combiner Wars version more.
The one-page silhouette that depicts the previous wielder of the Enigma of Combination depicts a 'bot clearly based on Terrorcon combiner Abominus, and while he is not named in the comic itself, Termagax describes him as an "abomination" who brought "terror" to the people of Cybertron. Whether through coincidence or design, Abominus's fellow beast combiner Monstructor had a similar backstory in the 2005 IDW continuity, depicted as a violently insane "failed" combiner from a bygone era of Cybertronian history.
Bombshell and the Constructicons had something of a history in the original IDW universe. The treacherous Insecticon was revealed to have upgraded the team with experimental combiner technology prior to All Hail Megatron, and later joined forces with them again in the pages of Robots in Disguise as part of a scheme to recreate an incapacitated Devastator. Whatever he wants, his appearance here definitely doesn't bode well for our merry band...

Real-world references

Mixmaster attempts to engineer a new building material using local "quartex" as an ingredient, in what's presumably a reference to the home planet of the Rock Lords from the GoBots franchise.

Covers (5)

Cover A: The Constructicons on Mayalx, by Livio Ramondelli
Cover B: The spectre of Devastator looms over our heroes, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
Retailer incentive cover A: A statue of the Constructicon combiner, by George Caltsoudas
Retailer incentive cover B: The Constructicons and Devastator, by Casey W. Coller and Josh Burcham
Retailer exclusive cover: Devastator on his throne, by Livio Ramondelli

The setup for one of the best music albums to hit Cybertron.
"I sense a disturbance. It is as if six lives just suddenly combined, becoming brighter than any has seen before..."
HAIL DEVASTATOR!
“On the path to Conquer the throne,
some of your pawns must die...
If your eyes aim the big kill,
you must learn to eat humble pie.”

Reprints

Transformers Volume 2: The Change In Their Nature (September 16, 2020) ISBN 1684056756 / ISBN 978-1684056750
- Collects Galaxies issues #1–6 and Transformers (2019) issues #13–18.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers.
- Hardcover format.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 100: Constructicons Rising (November 4, 2020)
- Collects Transformers (2019) issues #15–17 and Galaxies issues #1–4.
- Bonus material includes a 2-page afterword on the full Hachette G1 collection series, a tiny cover gallery of the Hachette series, a retrospective on the various G1 publishing companies, a cover gallery of the IDW issues and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.

Volume 2: The Change In Their Nature – cover art by Cryssy Cheung
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 100: Constructicons Rising – cover art by Don Figueroa (Scrapper) and Livio Ramondelli