Pax Cybertronia (issue)

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"Pax Cybertronia"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	December 7, 2011
Cover date	December 2011
Story by	Mike Costa
Art by	Casey Coller
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	John Barber
Associate editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Far future

In a new era of peace, Ironhide and Alpha Trion reflect on what has happened...

Synopsis

Skip to the good part.

On Gorlam Prime, it is a time of peace, and Alpha Trion entertains a group of three young Autobots with tales of times past. The four speak of Megatron's insurrection, the Dinobots' attack on Shockwave, and Optimus Prime's defeat by Megatron. The stories are cut short when the fireworks for the upcoming Remembrance Night ceremony begins and Alpha suggests the youths go home. One youth expresses preference for Alpha's stories over the media-tron—his experiences are much more real. This comment prompts an arriving Ironhide to rebuff Alpha's supposed presence at events during the Great War. The young Autobots are in awe of the veteran and, after a question, leave for their homes to prepare for the ceremony.

At the ceremony, the speaker establishes that it has been fifteen million years since the end of the Unification Wars and the Great Years. He introduces the key speaker for the event, the last veteran at Gorlam, Ironhide. Ironhide makes his speech, noting that the prosperous time they live in is what the Autobots fought for all those years. He recalls the fight against Thunderwing, Megatron's invasion of Earth, his own fight against the Insecticon swarm, and Megatron's battle against the D-Void. Ironhide finishes his speech, expressing that his time has passed and leaves the hall.

Back in my day...

Outside, Alpha Trion finds Ironhide looking at the stars. Alpha asks the old Transformer if he believes Megatron is still out there and comforts him with the thought that Optimus Prime, too, is still out there. Ironhide doesn't understand why he is being honored—he did little else but punch Decepticons. Now, he's just a relic of a bygone era who did nothing to build the current civilization. Alpha Trion tells him that the future is based on the past, and that Ironhide's contributions are vital to understanding what is to come. One of the three young Autobots comes up to the pair and asks Ironhide what would happen if Megatron returned. When Ironhide points out that they stopped him before and can stop him again, the young one asks him to tell him the story of Megatron's defeat.

Featured characters

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

Quotes

"If Prime were here, he'd know what to say. Over the years, I got to thinkin'. What Prime had... what made him great, it wasn't that he was so strong — even though he was — it was that he could talk... and what he said, it made you feel as strong as he was. I really do wish Prime was here right now."

—Ironhide addresses the audience

"What "everything"? I didn't build any of this. All these beautiful things, all these 'bots running around... I didn't have nothin' to do with that. It's been millions of years, Trion. Honor me nothin'. All I ever did was punch guys in the face."
"I remember."
"These are the Great Years. All of this. How do they not see that?"

—Ironhide and Alpha Trion take in the future

"The story never ends, Ironhide. It just changes into something else."

—Alpha Trion has heard of reboots

Notes

Continuity notes

• What has happened to Cybertron and why are they on Gorlam Prime? Mike Costa tells us this question is "very interesting, I guess you're going to have to keep reading the comic!"^[1] This detail was never expounded on, though Cybertron was destroyed by Unicron in Unicron issue #4.
• At least one of the future Autobots seems to have multiple alternate modes; the idea Ironhide only has one is fascinating to the three of them.
• Alpha Trion is deliberately drawn as younger than Ironhide, to show that Trion is constantly changing but Ironhide remains the same. Originally, it was going to be Bumblebee as the last veteran, but it was then decided to use Ironhide, as he had an established history with Alpha Trion.^[1]
• Later issues present this story as a vision that both Ironhide and Jhiaxus experience at the moment of Cybertron's reformatting. This revelation calls into question the fallibility of this glimpse forwards; not long afterwards, Gorlam Prime is entirely destroyed in Robots in Disguise #19, which nullifies the setting of this story. Similarly, Alpha voices his fears that Megatron may one day return—though in the following years of publication, Megatron becomes an Autobot, renounces violence entirely, and takes up a new role as a pacifistic civil rights advocate in the Functionist Universe... and then Alpha Trion himself dies fairly unambiguously in Optimus Prime #16. In issue #41 of Robots in Disguise, Ironhide once again brings up his vision, this time coming to the conclusion that it was never an accurate glimpse of a definite future, but merely an idealized vision of the future Ironhide wanted to see. Ultimately, the 2005 IDW continuity never worked in this sequence of events, with Ironhide himself dying in Unicron #6, though the final issue set in the continuity did feature an elderly Transformer telling tales of the past to a new generation of Cybertronians on a planet colonized by the Transformers following the loss of Cybertron... so make of that what you will.

Transformers references

• The Young Autobots sport the Generation 2 Autobot insignia.
• Statues of Bumblebee, Cosmos, Rodimus, and Optimus Prime adorn the scenery of Gorlam Prime in this issue.
• The issue's title is from the Pax Cybertronia established in Beast Wars, a reference to "Pax Romana", a term for an era of peace and stability in the Roman Empire.
• Alpha Trion reminds Ironhide how it never ends.

Errors

• On page 4, Megatron is seen with his Decepticon symbol neckchain. However, in Megatron Origin, when he was about to give his deathblow to Sentinel Prime, he never wore this chain. Casey Coller admitted on his deviantArt page that he added it in to make the scene look cool.

Trivia

• This was deliberately written as a potential "last issue" for the whole of The Transformers; it was also a homage to Peter David's last issue of The Incredible Hulk, where an older Rick Jones was interviewed about the Hulk, and a Starman issue where the immortal Shade was telling stories to children a million years in the future (with Alpha Trion always meant to be the Shade).^[1]
• This issue was released as part of IDW's Photo Cover Month, which also includes "Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime".

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Revoltech Megatron toy; photo by Rik Alvarez
• Cover B: Close-up of Ironhide staring at the stars; art by Casey Coller and colors by Joana Lafuente
• Cover RI: The Transformers: The Movie poster homage, with Optimus Prime, Rodimus, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Prowl replacing Ultra Magnus, Kup, Springer, Arcee, and Blurr respectively; art by Trevor Hutchison

• 

  I'll take articulation over Transforrming!

• 

  Ironhide has become Kup.

• 

  TF:TM homage #113.

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Collections

• The Transformers, Volume 7: Chaos (March 14, 2012) ISBN 1613771401 / ISBN 978-1613771402
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus B&W art sketches from Livio Ramondelli.
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Eight (May 7, 2013) ISBN 1613776276 / ISBN 978-1613776278
  • Collects Heart of Darkness issues #1–4, and The Transformers (2009) issues #19–31.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime (December 13, 2017)
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31, and The Death of Optimus Prime.
  • Bonus content includes an interview with James Roberts on how he worked his way up to become an ongoing writer, character design sketches by Livio Ramondelli, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Chaos (October 31, 2018) ISBN 978-4-86491-400-0
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
  • Japanese reprint. Trade paperback format.

• 

  Volume 7: Chaos – cover art by Livio Ramondelli

• 

  The IDW Collection Volume Eight – cover art by E. J. Su

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime – cover art by Don Figueroa (Prime) and Livio Ramondelli (retro)

• 

  Chaos – cover art by Nagi Miyako

References