TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE #6

"ATONEMENT"
Writers: James "Brad Mick" McDonough & Adam Patyk | Pencils: Don Figueroa
Inks: Elaine To | Colors: Espen Grundetjern | Letters: Ben Lee

The Plot: Deep beneath the Earth's surface, as Sunstorm sinks into a pool of glowing liquid, Starscream prepares to execute Bumblebee. Meanwhile, on Cybertron, Prowl holds a meeting of several Autobots and they debate returning to Earth. Ultimately the decision is reached to do so. And back on Earth, Warpath and Bumper, along with the still-unconscious Jazz and the rest, are driven into the desert aboard a human truck, which descends underground via a concealed elevator. Elsewhere, Omega Supreme and Cliffjumper worry over their friends.

Back underground, Sunstorm rises once more and attacks Starscream, then grabs Bumblebee and prepares to kill him. But his body has a reaction to the liquid in which he was submerged and he begins to disintegrate. Jetfire comes around and enters the fray, causing Sunstorm to retreat back to the surface and into the sky. Jetfire appeals to the friendship he once shared with Starscream, then pursues Sunstorm. Starscream picks up the unconscious Bumblebee and returns to the surface.

Meanwhile, high in the sky, Jetfire realizes Sunstorm is on the verge of self-destructing. While Starscream deposits Bumblebee on a beach somewhere and departs, Jetfire pushes Sunstorm out of the atmosphere, where both are enveloped in a massive explosion.

On Earth, Bumblebee observes Jetfire's demise, salutes, and abandons his blaster on the beach as he walks away.

Continuity Notes: The group of Autobots in Prowl's meeting are all ex-Ark crewmembers. It's noted that the Autobots have already begun to fortify Cybertron's two moons, and want to do the same on Earth.

Sunstorm attempts to kill Bumblebee while ranting that "the Oracle has favored [Bumblebee] while betraying [Sunstorm]!" He also states that he can see "...radiance deep within [Bumblebee]."

G1 References: During the meeting, it's noted that Mirage was once Cybertronian nobility, a tidbit from his original toy's bio which was rarely, if ever, touched upon in previous TRANSFORMERS fiction (it's also stated here that his estate was divvied up by Shockwave while the Ark was lost on Earth.

Body Count: As noted above, Sunstorm and Jetfire both apparently perish in battle above the Earth's atmosphere.

My Thoughts: The story arc that wouldn't end finally does, and naturally it raises more questions than it answers. While we learned quite a bit about Sunstorm's origins last issue, we're still mostly in the dark as to his motives. He's babbled about leading the Transformes to heaven, but after his contact with the strange liquid this issue, the hints in speech seem to indicate that this destiny will actually belong to Bumblebee. Then he dies.

We have no answers about the subterranean cavern either; only that it's not a natural part of Earth and that it required someone who had been "touched" by Megatron to access. So did Megatron put it there? If so, when? Before the Ark crashed on Earth millions of years ago? In theory Megatron didn't know our planet existed back then, so it seems unlikely. And the impending cancellation of the series means we'll never receive an answer.

So, a quick theory: It was known at the time these issues came out that Dreamwave intended to integrate the continuity of the BEAST WARS TV series into their ongoing comics, beginning with a BEAST WARS miniseries which never saw publication. For those unaware, BEAST WARS told the story of two warring groups of Transformes from the distant future who were hurled back in time and fought each other on Earth during the time the Ark lay dormant. And part of the plot of the series involved the BEAST WARS version of Megatron (a different character with the same name, taken to honor the previous Decepticon leader) absorbing the spark of the original Megatron into his body.

Thus it seems likely this underground cavern was found or created by BEAST WARS Megatron, and sealed by him as well, so that only someone else who had touched Megatron's spark could open it. I wouldn't be surprised if this is what the aborted BEAST WARS miniseries would have revealed. (Though how, exactly, Starscream would have been "touched" by Megatron remains unknown.)

Overall this arc has been a bit too supernatural for me, and obviously it ran way, way too long. The entire story could've been told in no more (and probably less) than four issues. But we got some great artwork and some wonderful dialogue; reading the scene featuring Prowl's meeting gave me the clearest impression of the original G1 cartoon voices so far (though the coloring was very distracting with a couple sets each of red and yellow optics -- all Autobots have blue eyes, darn it!). I think my main gripe besides the supernatural angle is that the story focused almost solely on Bumblebee, Jetfire, and Starscream, with nearly all other characters sidelined. I tend to view TRANSFORMERS as an ensemble piece, and placing such a narrow focus on such a tiny group of characters feels like a disservice to the franchise.