Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2

	; Kup has had a run-in with either Jhiaxus or Escargon.
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 17, 2010
Cover date	February 2010
Written by	Nick Roche & James Roberts
Pencils	Nick Roche
Inks	John Wycough
Colors	Josh Burcham
Letters	Neil Uyetake
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Associate editor	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

The Wreckers land on Garrus-9.

Synopsis

A long time ago, on the planet Caldoon 4, Kup and a team of Autobots are being slaughtered by Overlord. Breaking off from the attack, the giant Decepticon leaves to attend a holoconference with Megatron, who informs him that he, Sixshot, and Black Shadow will be the Phase Sixers, responsible for finishing planets on the brink of collapse. When Overlord states that he has other ambitions, he is given an ultimatum: obey Megatron or be hunted down and destroyed.

Back in the present, the new Wreckers recruits discuss the arrival of Impactor, and what it means for the mission. While Impactor is being repaired by Perceptor (whereupon an explosive deterrence chip is found in the ex-Wrecker's head), he reveals that he was freed by Snare, who is having qualms about Overlord's sadistic actions. He also rails at Springer for having sent him to Garrus-9 in the first place.

Ultra Magnus intends to make the trip back to Earth with Verity Carlo after having dropped off the team, having received a request from Prowl to return. An eavesdropping Verity disagrees with this plan, however. Magnus also informs Springer that according to Prowl, someone or something called Aequitas is currently on Garrus-9.

The Wreckers convene for a mission briefing, and Kup reminisces that Overlord, having chosen to defy Megatron, left the survivors of his team alive back on Caldoon 4. The mission is to hit the prison, free the Autobot prisoners and deal with Aequitas. They plan to break the surrounding force-field by landing two drop pods, both to be controlled by Rotorstorm.

As the appointed time approaches, Ironfist equips Pyro and Guzzle with cerebro-sensitive bullets capable of homing onto a target's brain module. Impactor sits alone in reflection, while Topspin and Twin Twist talk about the vicarious perception they are experiencing. Verity leaves a note for Ultra Magnus, while Magnus and Springer consider Ironfist's blackouts and Rotorstorm wallows in self-doubt.

Ultra Magnus releases the drop pods above the planet, at which point Verity, now dressed in an exoskeleton, reveals herself as having stowed away aboard one of them. Despite a fierce Decepticon defense, the two teams make a crash landing on the planet. Emerging from the wreckage of her pod, Verity finds herself face to face with Overlord...

Featured characters

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

Autobots

Decepticons

Humans

Kup (2)
Pyro (6)
Rotorstorm (7)
Ironfist (8)
Guzzle (9)
Ultra Magnus (10)

Impactor (11)
Perceptor (12)
Springer (13)
Twin Twist (15)
Topspin (16)

Overlord (1)
Sixshot (3)
Megatron (4)
Black Shadow (5)
Snare (14)

Verity Carlo (14)

Quotes

"Apologies, Megatron. Unlike Sixshot and Black Shadow, I have my hands full."

—Overlord is just about the only 'bot that can insult Sixshot...and live.

"Freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom... to be."
"No. Too pompous."
"Sentience is the guarantor of autonomy."
"Pyro, I don't even know what that means."

—Pyro harangues Ironfist with potential mottos

Rotorstorm: "It's not a motto you want, it's a war cry. Something to scare your enemy, not make 'em hate you more."
Guzzle: "Me, I just show up, shoot, and shout. The less coherent the better."
Ironfist: "You can't beat 'Wreck 'n' Rule.' Pure poetry."

— Ironfist: The next Walt Whitman

"Why should I trust you? You're a Decepticon. Called Snare."

—Impactor asks a perfectly reasonable question of his liberator.

"Autobot? I'm a Wrecker, Snare. First and always."

—Impactor proudly announces where his loyalties lie.

"Turn up and shoot... 'Bout as fancy as it gets with us Wreckers. You wanna spend all day calculating 'tolerable margins of error'? Call Prowl."

—Springer: Always the one to take cheap digs at Prowl

"Hold my legs, Topspin...I feel the urge to shoot someone."

—Perceptor reaches out to his inner psychopath

Notes

Continuity notes

"Bullets" would state that cerebro-seeking bullets were banned and their use is a war crime under the Tyrest Accord. Those Wreckers, such scamps!
Sixshot seems pretty enthusiastic about being a phase-sixer! He'll lose this enthusiasm later and then regain it.
On the same page, Ironfist drops references to Xaaron and the Sonic Canyons.
We learn here that Ultra Magnus is not with the Wreckers, he's just giving them a lift and then pretending he never saw them kill folks. Verity wasn't with the Wreckers, but she sure is now!
The Wreckers' reaction to the news of Overlord's arrival and take over of Garrus-9 is nearly identical to that of the Predators in the previous issue.
Verity has an old photo of her, Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink in their '-ation' clothes, acting goofy. One could say they really never had time to have such a picture taken, but the Autobots did have a camera trained on them while they had the three in custody.
Pyro shows concerns about Springer's plan to get in and out of Garrus-9 in a jiffy, and sees him compare it to "Prime's Fivefold Maneuver", to which it shares no similarities. This turn of phrase would come back to bite Pyro in the aft later on.
First appearances: Black Shadow

Transformers references

On page 15, Ironfist refers to an old Wreckers mission known as "Operation: Volcano", named in homage to the mission that the team were to carry out in the Marvel UK storyline "Target: 2006" (which was the team's first appearance). The mission is coded 078/088, referring to the issue numbers which "Target: 2006" ran through.
As the Wreckers roll into action, Ultra Magnus recites the old Cybertronian proverb, "May your wires never cross and your luster never dull," originally heard during the Rite of the Autobrand in the Marvel comic, "Rock and Roll-Out!"
On page 4, Pyro's attempts at a motto are just different ways of saying "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", a further joke about his resemblance to Optimus Prime.

Real-life references

Vicarious perception is a real concept, referring to someone else perceiving your exertion and discomfort.

Errors

On page 10, Nick Roche originally drew Impactor scraping his harpoon hand along the corridor wall... unfortunately, Impactor isn't supposed to have his harpoon attached until the next page. The original pencils for the first panel can be found in the bonus materials in the trade paperback edition.
On page 16, Verity sure has a large font setting on her computer screen. Either she needs glasses, or it's one of them viewer-friendly computers that keep getting used for television and movies. (This wouldn't usually be mentioned here, but hey, the trade paperback collection explicitly points it out.)
The holo-projections of Megatron, Black Shadow, and Sixshot all change positions within two panels.

Other trivia

As with the first issue, this one also comes Furman-approved!^[1]

Production

The hardcover trade of Last Stand reveals information about both Roche's original pitch and early Roche-Roberts scripts.

In Roche's pitch:

The Wreckers first fight Overlord here, with Rotorstorm having a doomed midair strafe-and-brawl before dying.
Springer's team run into "Fauxbots": Decepticon sparks implanted into Autobot bodies, pretending to be guards in need of 'rescue'. "Little tics give the game away a little, but the Green Team perceives it as trauma."
Verity, with Perceptor's team, comes across "the trussed up necrotic form of Abraham Dante" being kept alive. Blaming the Decepticon Headmaster for Hunter O'Nion's death, Verity prepares to murder him. The draft excerpt ends here, but elsewhere Roche recounts a scene where Pyro is able to convince Verity not to kill an enemy in cold-blood, which is presumably how this sequence ended (unless there's someone else on Garrus-9 she'd blame for Hunter's death).

In early scripts:

Overlord narrates to us as he attacks Caldoon 4. This was considered unnecessary. Kup's narration was cut for reasons of space (and would reveal Overlord's 'Achilles virus').

In an interview for Moonbase 2, the creators said one draft would have the Wreckers smashing through the front door with their ship, and Overlord orbital bouncing every single Autobot prisoner into the ship's path so the Wreckers would kill them all. Roche cheerily says that'd have been "cool" to do.^[2]

On page 10 Roche originally drew Impactor dragging his harpoon's blade down the corridor wall, when he only gets the weapon back on the next page.

Covers (3)

Cover A: A young Kup stares up at Overlord; art by Nick Roche and colors by Josh Burcham.
Cover B: Overlord presides over a pit fight; art and colors by Trevor Hutchison.
Cover RI: "Virgin" title-free edition of cover B.