Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers

« Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers Annual
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 30, 2018
Cover date	May 2018
Written by	Nick Roche
Art by	Nick Roche (pg 1-3, 6, 15-16, 19-29, 32-40) Geoff Senior (pg 4-5, 17-18, 30-31) Brendan Cahill (pg 7-14)
Colors by	Josh Burcham and Josh Perez
Letters by	Shawn Lee and Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2018)

An attempt to reconnect with Impactor lands Springer and Verity in the crosshairs of the unholy team-up of Overlord and Tarantulas.

Synopsis

In the two years that have passed since Wreckers' final mission, Springer and Verity Carlo have been keeping a low profile, living together in a barn off the grid. Via a Cybertronian communications array left to them by Prowl, they listen in on radio chatter to keep up to date on goings-on out in the world, from the rise of firebrand anti-Cybertronian politician Megan Guiglione, to the shocking news of Kup's recent death. Already struggling to process what Verity has told him about his true origins as a creation of Tarantulas's, Springer is hit hard by the passing of a 'bot who was like a father to him, and decides to seek out the only remaining link to his past, Impactor—last seen joining up with the Cybertronian terrorist organization Mayhem—for a heart-to-heart talk. Before they hit the road to meet Impactor, Verity, concerned by phantom traces of outgoing communications she has found on the array, runs a diagnostic on the machine. While she waits for a handset to synch with it so she can monitor the results remotely while they are away, Springer tells her the story of how he first met Impactor...

Millions of years ago on Cybertron, Kup and Springer fight side-by-side against the Decepticons. Spotting a supply drone sneaking its way around them, Springer makes a daring leap to take it out... and no sooner has he landed safely than Impactor is standing over him, informing him that he has been chosen to join the Wreckers. Springer excitedly shares the news with Kup, only to see his old mentor's eyes fill with sadness...

Many hours and hundreds of miles later, Verity and Springer stop at a gas station, allowing Verity to tactfully avoid a conversation about something else they discovered using the array which she isn't ready to talk about yet. While getting a coffee, her eyes are drawn to a rack of greeting cards, but she only has a moment to glance at them before suddenly, out of nowhere, a bulldozer comes roaring up, smashes into Springer, and drives away with him!

Verity calls Impactor for help, and follows the bulldozer's trail to a nearby town. A day of searching yields no trace of Springer, but Verity's search comes to a sudden and unexpected end when Springer appears in the middle of a Megan Guiglione rally going on in the town square... and opens fire on the politician herself! Springer, obviously, is not himself; the bulldozer, it transpires, was Steamhammer, a member of Mayhem, and Springer's body is now under the control of former Mayhem leader Carnivac, who is intent on using him to exterminate Guiglione. However, things get even stranger when Guiglione not only survives Springer's shot, but splits... grows... and transforms, revealing herself to be Overlord with a human alternate mode disguise! All around the square, Mayhem members hiding in vehicle mode reveal themselves and engage this unexpected new enemy, but Overlord slaughters them all in seconds. Before he can unleash his sadistic brand of violence on the helpless Springer, Verity steps in, donning her old gauntlets to catch Overlord's attention with a few well-placed blasts. Vividly recalling Verity from their last meeting, Overlord immediately forgets about Springer, snatches her up, and departs in jet mode with her as his captive. Seconds later, Impactor finally arrives on the scene, finding an unconscious Springer, and a shame-faced Carnivac. The furious Impactor vows to kill Carnivac for what he has done, but not before he takes them all back to Mayhem's base and has Springer repaired.

Overlord takes Verity to a dormant volcano, where it is revealed that he is working with Tarantulas. The evil spider explains that he survived the collapse of the Noisemaze by shrinking down in beast mode and secretly stowing away on Springer's body. Subsequently, he lived in secret with Verity and Springer for over a year, and was the one responsible for the phantom transmissions Verity found on the array. Using it, he contacted Overlord and gathered the resources and funding for his new objectives, which included the continuation of his organic alternate mode experiments, leading to the invention of the "Guiglione" identity for Overlord, created using Verity's own DNA. Overlord, however, is eager to move on to the next phase of Tarantulas's plan, but the spider testily explains that it is still not yet ready, and the ever-defiant Verity just rolls her eyes as the two giant robots have a tiff in front of her.

Kup accompanies Springer to the Wreckers' base for his induction, his old body struggling to keep up with the death-defying shortcuts the eager youngster takes on the way. As parting advice, Kup encourages Springer not to lose his optimism. The doors to the base open, and Springer steps inside to be greeted by the team... and by the time he looks back over his shoulder, Kup is already gone.

In Mayhem's base, an enraged, fully-healed Springer smashes his way out of a CR chamber and tackles Impactor to the ground, blaming him for everything. Impactor pleads innocence; he explains that he has been under deep-cover as a vehicle in the President's motorcade for some time, and in his absence, Carnivac usurped command. Carnivac spits back that the plan to destabilize the peace process by using an Autobot to kill a human was still Impactor's—he just picked which Autobot to use, and believes Impactor is only angry because he chose his precious Springer. The disgusted Springer rebukes them both, and departs to rescue Verity.

Tarantulas unveils the next phase of his plan to Verity: an upgraded version of the Noisemaze known as the "Timemaze," which will allow him to send Overlord back in time to key points in history, creating endless divergent timelines and alternate realities for him to experiment with. Overlord, however, chooses this moment to reveal that he's not so interested in the spider's schemes; instead, he intends to use the Timemaze to kill Megatron throughout all of time and space. Realizing that such an action would wreak catastrophe upon the space-time continuum, and wounded that, once again, a partner he trusted has turned on him, Tarantulas lunges at Overlord. As the pair grapple, Verity leaps up onto the Timemaze's control console and plugs her handset into it, trying to take control of it. Overlord reaches for her, but Tarantulas stops him; the spider, Overlord realizes, is actually protecting her in hopes of winning Springer's favor. Of course, based on personal experience, Overlord doesn't believe Springer will ever come...

...and is immediately proven wrong when his eye is impaled by Impactor's harpoon, as he and Springer come swooping down into the volcano! While Impactor tackles Overlord and Verity continues trying to damage the Timemaze, Tarantulas stands down, hoping to reunite with the "son" he created but never knew. Pained, he tries to tell Springer that he didn't abandon him, that he thought he had died, that he can make it right... but before he can do anything, Overlord shoots him in the back of the head. Springer tackles Overlord, and they and Impactor go tumbling deeper into the volcano's caldera. Overlord opens fire as they fall, hitting the ceiling and bringing a landslide of rocks down on top of them; Impactor is left pinned beneath the boulders, with Springer on one side, behind him, and Overlord somewhere on the other. Granted a moment of peace amid the chaos, Impactor and Springer are afforded the chance to talk, but don't know where to start. Impactor asks Springer what he would ask Kup, if he were there, and Springer replies that he would ask him how they first met, as he doesn't remember. Impactor tells the story...

Having rescued the young Springer—then "Ostaros"—from Tarantulas's lab, Impactor brings him to Prowl. With neither willing to kill the strange, artificially-created Cybertronian, Prowl has him Autobranded and given a new identity, his memory of his origins expunged, then assigns him to Kup's unit. The old Autobot is told the story behind him and sworn to secrecy, and the pair are introduced in Prowl's office that day.

Impactor apologizes to Springer for ever bringing him into the Wreckers, but before they can talk through the matter any further, Overlord's shadow appears in the distance. Impactor gives Springer one final order, which he reluctantly carries out: as Overlord draws close, Springer shoots through Impactor's body, as Impactor once shot through his on the planet Pova, killing him and knocking Overlord off his feet. Crashing through Impactor's flaming remains, Springer races back to the Timemaze gate, with Overlord in hot pursuit.

Verity, meanwhile, has hacked into the bank accounts Tarantulas created to fund the Guiglione campaign and transferred millions to her own. Springer comes crashing back into the chamber with Overlord on his heels, and it looks like the game is up... until Carnivac's howl echoes through the volcano, his sonic powers forcibly converting Overlord into his two composite vehicle modes, jet and tank. In a flash, Springer instructs Verity to activate the Timemaze, and he uses it to end Overlord's threat once and for all, by hurling his jet half into the distant future, and his tank half into the primordial past! The dying Tarantulas then calls Springer to his side, telling him he is happy to see that he has turned out "good," and mourning the fact that they could not be together. "Father" and "son" bid one another farewell, and Tarantulas dies.

With nothing left to tether him to the past, Springer chooses a new path: using the Timemaze, he will go back in time to before the war, and live out his life there, seeing if he can stop the war before it happens by effecting change on the smallest, most intimate level possible, in the way the big, crazy Wreckers never could—individually, person-to-person. Rather than drag out the goodbyes, Verity gives him a greeting card with a "thank you" message. The pair hug one last time, and Springer steps through the gate into history.

With Springer's departure, Verity beams out a final, pre-recorded message he left for all surviving Wreckers, their allies, and even a group of prospective rookie candidates who he had been training remotely. Via hologram, Springer gives them all one last order: destroy the legacy of the Wreckers. Make it so that the awful things they had to do in secret in the past will never have to be done again. Be there for one another. "Wreck the past, rule your future."

And Verity herself has a future of her own that it's finally time for her to begin—a future that lies with the other thing she and Springer found through the array. She stands on the front step of a house, rings the doorbell... and when the house's unseen resident opens the door, Verity silently holds another greeting card out to them, which reads: "For My Mom." In silence, the card is taken... and Verity is welcomed inside.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks, or images on the Timemaze's console.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Kup wasn't just a friend, or a work colleague... he was, y'know, Kup. He was... kinda... your dad."
"That doesn't quite work the same way it does for humans, I don't think."
"It works for every human differently, dude, trust me."

—Verity and Springer

"I can keep an eye on the diagnostics while we trip road and go full-on Last Stand of the Jack Kerou-eckers."
"Do other humans think this is a normal way to talk?"
"You see any around?"

—Verity and Springer

"So, Megatron asked me to come kick your ass again."

—Verity greets Overlord

"I'm just... keen to get this started. It feels... right, y'know? Like, 'I can do this.' Dumb, eh?"
"Maybe... or maybe it's just blind positivity. I remember hearin' about that."
"Any wise words on it?"
"Yeah. Don't let 'em kick it out of you."

—Springer is accompanied by Kup on his way to join the Wreckers

"What is it with you needing a buddy all the time, Tarantulas? You're like a hip-hop artist who never has enough ideas and has to give a feat. credit to whoever makes you look good."

—Verity

"Why?! Why couldn't it have been enough for you?! Why am I never enough?!"

—Tarantulas reacts to Overlord's betrayal

Kup: "Awright kid, they tell me you got crazy moves, two alt modes, and a jaw that could split rocks. That may impress the desk-flippers, but it won't be enough to cut it in Kup's crew, ya got it?"
Springer: "I'm looking forward to serving with you, sir."
Kup: "Grea—"
Springer: "And to show you that, actually, it's more than enough."
Prowl: "Oh, I forgot to tell you. He's one of those."

—Kup and Springer's first meeting

"What's all this? A one-sided final chat where you make peace with yourself and your wretchedly bad decisions? I'm here, my son. I will grant you the boon of a final confession before I replace your spine with my knuckles. What words do you wish to say?"
"Wreck and rule, you spawn of a glitch."

—Overlord bears witness to Impactor's final words

"I never meant... for you to be left... alone."
"I was never alone. I always had someone."
"Good. It was for... the best that you were taken from me, I think. Your life... would have been worse... but I fear mine would have been better. Maybe then... it would have occurred to me that... instead of unleashing so much harm... [...] ...I... hkk ...could—hh—leave behind... something good—Ostaros—"
"Goodbye... Mesothulas."

—Tarantulas and Springer's final moment

"Endless war; corruption; crazies who live to harm others—all the stuff that makes the Wreckers a necessity—it's just too massive. But personal responsibility isn't. The ability to enact change, person-to-person. It doesn't take up any room. Sometimes, it's all we have."

—Springer's new mission

Notes

Continuity notes

• We rejoin our heroes following the events of Sins of the Wreckers, which concluded with Verity and Springer going off the grid for a while and Impactor joining Mayhem. The final panel of the final issue implied Tarantulas had survived his seeming death in the story by featuring a tiny spider hiding in Springer's wheel well, which Requiem confirms to have been him. Springer's origins were revealed in that same issue, but not to him; Verity has told him the story off-panel between that issue and this one.
• Kup died in Transformers vs. Visionaries #1.
• Springer references the "Shimmer," the superstitious name for the hologram normally used by the Wreckers' leader to contact new recruits and inform them they have been inducted into the team, originally introduced in "Bullets." It is the method by which he contacts the past and future Wreckers at the end of the story. "Bullets" placed focus on the fact that "the Shimmer" was famously green in color, which it was logical to conclude was because Springer himself is green. Curiously, however, we here learn that the hologram-contact method was in use before Springer ever joined the Wreckers; does that mean that it's the hologram itself that's specifically projected in green light, or was it purple while Impactor used it?
• In the flashback portions of the story, Kup appears with his design from his original appearance in Spotlight: Kup.
• Impactor and Springer's first meeting was previously seen in the Transformers: Mosaic strip, "Dead Men's Boots," complete with dialogue repeated here. However, see "Errors."
• Overlord was last seen in More than Meets the Eye #55, in which he concluded that the Autobot Megatron of today was no longer worthy of his attention—hence his desire to travel back in time and confront the Megatron of the past. Numerous references are made to the Wreckers' last meeting with him in Last Stand of the Wreckers #5, including the giant gun Springer used against him, him ripping Springer's face off, Verity telling him Megatron was dead, and Impactor stabbing him in the eye with his harpoon.
  • A more subtle nod occurs as we first see his human form, as he's in the same distinctive arms-raised jazz-hands pose as his "please attend carefully" speech from Last Stand #3.
• When describing the rationale behind Impactor's plan to kill a human politician, Carnivac notes "a cop killed by an Autobot leaves a scar," alluding the death of officer John Powell at the hands of Jazz in The Transformers vol. 1 #17, that shadow which has been shown by Optimus Prime to still hang over the Autobots.
• The version of Optimus Prime who appears in the Timemaze's monitors showing different times and potential realities is sporting the unique Prime design Roche created for a one-page sequence in Sins of the Wreckers #2.
• One of the monitors shows Beast Megatron, who has been appearing as a Maximal over in Optimus Prime.
• Springer shoots through Impactor's body to blast Overlord, just as Impactor shot through his during the infamous battle on Pova, as seen in Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 and 5.
• Among Springer's four prospective Wreckers is Bulkhead, the Generation 1 version of the Transformers Prime character who has already made several cameo appearances in IDW continuity. This marks his first appearance in the modern era of this universe, his other appearances having been in pre-war stories.

Transformers references

• Overlord's human alias, "Megan Guiglione," is named after his Godmaster partners Mega and Giga from Super-God Masterforce. In "Guiglione's" speech, heard on page 2, "she" refers to "the great American public" as "the real power masters" in an allusion to this, Powermasters being the English-language equivalent of Godmasters.
• In addition to Overbite, Stampy, and Roche-original character "Tuskmaster," all originally seen in Sins of the Wreckers, the ranks of Mayhem include two new characters: Smolder and Steamhammer from the Power Core Combiners toyline.
• In addition to various recognizable Generation 1 and Beast Era characters shown in the Timemaze's monitors, there's a character a little more from left field: Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime.
• Also visible on the Timemaze's monitors is a forearm with a spiked mace instead of a hand—a nice, safe, non-trademark-infringing cameo appearance by Marvel UK star and longtime Roche favorite Death's Head.
• One last Easter egg on the monitors includes a metal planet, connected to others like it by a huge web. This is the Hub, the interlinked network of cyberformed worlds created by the Cybertronian Empire and ruled over by the Liege Maximo in the Marvel Generation 2 comic book, which author Simon Furman never got the chance to tell the full story of due to the comic's cancellation.
• Springer calls Impactor a "wily old buzzard," Impactor's "loving" insult of choice for Emirate Xaaron, as seen in the Marvel UK story, "Target: 2006."
• One of the headlines on "Megan" shows "her" holding the decapitated head of Optimus Prime on a spike in her hand with an American flag in the other, paying homage to Klaus Scherwinski's cover for All Hail Megatron #1.
• Verity banks with "Tipton Banking Online," an apparent reference to IDW editor Denton J. Tipton. Also her middle name is "Simone" because of course.
• While his head is still the Prime design, Bulkhead's torso now takes after his Animated counterpart.
• Bulkhead's involvement with the Wreckers comes from his Prime counterpart.
• Two of Springer's prospective Wreckers are Generation 1 incarnations of live-action movieverse Breacher and Robots in Disguise Strongarm.

Real-life references

• Verity refers to her and Springer's road trip as "going full-on Last Stand of the Jack Kerou-eckers," referring to the American novelist Jack Kerouac and his famous work, On the Road, based on his travels across the United States in the 40s and 50s.
• The gas station Verity and Springer stop at is part of the "Alliance Gas" chain, which weirdly makes use of the same logo as the Systems Alliance Navy from the Mass Effect series of video games.
• The protester holding a sign that says "The end is nigh" is a reference to the graphic novel Watchmen.
• Verity gives Overlord the nickname "Lose-Like-Jagger," a double reference to musician Mick Jagger (whose famously pouty lips rival Overlord's own) and the Maroon 5 song about him, "Moves like Jagger."
• Verity also calls Overlord "Thunderlips," referring to a character from the movie Rocky III.
• On a hot nickname streak, Verity dubs Tarantulas "P-Didn't," after "P. Diddy," one of the stage names of rapper Sean Combs.
• She also refers to the Timemaze as "Noisemaze Two: Electric Boogaloo," after the 1984 film, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Errors

• The credits page doesn't list any artist for page 6. It's Roche.
• Springer's account of his first meeting with Impactor may match the single panel seen in "Dead Men's Boots," but it doesn't quite jibe with the more detailed account given in "Zero Point." That story had the meeting take place in the Toxic Sludge Swamps, where Springer was tracking a distress call, rather than fighting to hold territory, and Impactor made his entrance by "dropping out the sky" and eliminating eight Decepticons at once.
• Sandstorm is seen as part of the Wreckers when Springer joins the team, but "Out of Bullets" seemed to indicate that Springer was part of the team BEFORE him, having served with Sandstorm's predecessor Blocker.
• The fourth and last of Springer's recruits appears to be Quickswitch... who died in Transformers vs. Visionaries #4. It seems that Roche was unaware that the character was appearing in that series; he'd previously conceptualised a version of Quickswitch for Sins of the Wreckers, making his inclusion here a nod to that aborted idea. As it didn't seem plausible that the events of Requiem could fall between Kup's death and Quickswitch's, both Josh Burcham^[1] and Roche^[2] agreed to the "No-Prize" fix that this character was Sixknight, despite the narrowly visible Quickswitch-y color layout.

Other trivia

• This perfect-bound one-shot (marketed as an "Annual") is 52 pages in length, containing 40 pages of story. Backmatter includes a look behind the scenes with commentary from Roche, including original notebook pages that outline early ideas for the story, character designs for Guiglione, Verity, and the 'bots with new alternate modes (Impactor, who has dropped his tank mode for an armored car, and Stampy, Overbite, and Tuskmaster, who have shed their animal forms for vehicle ones), and character models for Springer, Impactor, and Kup that Roche assembled for Geoff Senior, who draws the three flashback portions of the story.
• The outline contains most of the final story's plot beats (the only notable exception is the suggestion of potentially using time travel to recruit Wreckers from different eras, which would also give Springer the chance for emotional closure with Kup). It also has an uncensored 'f---' which the editors seem to have missed.

Cover

• Regular cover: Springer and Impactor clash, with Verity and the memory of Kup caught between them, and Tarantulas and Overlord looming over it all, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham

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Collections

• Transformers: The Wreckers Saga (July 4, 2018) ISBN 1684052211 / ISBN 978-1684052219
  • Collects Last Stand of the Wreckers #1–5, Sins of the Wreckers #1–5, and Requiem of the Wreckers.
  • Bonus material includes all of the covers, the 11-page prose story "Bullets", the Transformers: Mosaic: "Dead Men's Boots", the 2-page comic "Escape", the 5-page prose story "Zero Point", the 1-page comic "In Word and Deed", and profiles for Rotorstorm, Pyro, Guzzle, Ironfist, Impactor, Snare and Overlord.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 80: Requiem of the Wreckers (May 29, 2019)
  • Collects Till All Are One #12 & Annual 2017, Transformers Annual 2017, and Requiem of the Wreckers.
  • Bonus material includes a Wreckers sketchbook and notebook material from Nick Roche, a cover gallery and an intro from Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  The Wreckers Saga – cover art by Nick Roche.

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 80: Requiem of the Wreckers – cover art by Don Figueroa (Carnivac) and Nick Roche (retro)

References

External links

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