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The Price of You

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Cybertronian Beauty
"The Price of You"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published May 31, 2017
Cover date May 2017
Written by Mairghread Scott
Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

With the mnemosurgical help of Airachnid, Starscream leverages Blast Off to get the Combaticons under his control.

Contents

Synopsis

In his office in the Spire, Starscream ruminates on his recent decisions, including the release of Chromia and the conviction of the innocent Badgeless accused of murder—two steps forward, one step back, as his hallucinatory companion, Bumblebee puts it. Elita One has finished stripping the remains of Vigilem for usable parts and is preparing to return to orbit with her crew; Starscream recognizes the threat to his power she poses, and needs to shore up his forces in preparation for the possibility things may go south. Presently, a text message comes through that indicates some positive steps have been taken in that direction, and Starscream heads out to meet with the sender: Airachnid, a mnemosurgeon from Eukaris. Exiled from her homeworld by her fellow Fateweavers for experimenting on—and ultimately killing—other 'bots in pursuit of a scientific way to expand the Spinners' prophetic powers, the unscrupulous Airachnid has been in Starscream's employ for some time, and now believes she has solved the problem of the comatose Combaticons. Typically, it is not practical to mnemosurgically change the memories of a close-knit group of 'bots because they will, among one another, usually manage to collectively detect the alterations. However, the fact that the Combaticons have previously combined means that their minds have imprinted on one another, which will make them more susceptible to the process—if Starscream can get just one of the Combaticons on his side, who will keep the others from noticing when things don't seem quite right. The question is... which one?

Blast Off awakens in his apartment, nursing an apparent hangover, with Onslaught lying beside him on the twin recharge slab they share. Onslaught urges him to get up so they can triple check the security plan for Starscream's meeting with a new envoy the next day; the disoriented Blast Off is puzzled to hear Starscream referred to as the team's employer, and finds that he can't recall much that has happened in recent memory, not least of all how he wound up in a relationship with Onslaught. Onslaught reminds him how they fell for one another after the war, but as the two lean in close... Onslaught promptly vanishes, and Starscream appears behind Blast Off, revealing that the entire scenario is a dream Airachnid is feeding the Combaticon of his greatest desires. Blast Off is revolted by this monstrous violation of his mind, but Starscream shrugs; sure, he's a monster, but he admits it and owns it—just like the rest of Blast Off's team are all monsters as well. Driven to murderous rage by the besmirching of Onslaught's name, Blast Off tackles Starscream and beats him to death... but of course, none of it is real, and Starscream just reappears on the other side of the room. Starscream explains the reason for his presence: he needs the Combaticons as his soldiers, but he needs them loyal, so he intends to have Airachnid alter their memories, removing their knowledge of his role in Swindle's near-death and making them believe they combined into Bruticus under Starscream's own supervision. Starscream proposes that Blast Off will be the sole member of the group who will be allowed to know the new memories are fake, and will prevent the other Combaticons from ever getting too close to the truth. In return, Airachnid will alter Onslaught's mind so that he "notices" Blast Off, making the "domestic bliss" that is Blast Off's dream a potential reality. Blast Off refuses, but Starscream continues; if the Combaticons' memories are unchanged, and if they emerge from their comas, their lives will still barely be worth living, and Onslaught will ultimately destroy himself trying to recapture former glories. Blast Off falters, but does not say anything, so Starscream turns to leave... whereupon Blast Off calls out for him to wait.

A little later, back in the "real world," Starscream informs Ironhide that the Combaticons have begun to wake up. Ironhide intends to prosecute them for the devastation Bruticus caused, but Starscream says that Airachnid's study of them has ever-so-conveniently led her to the conclusion that they are not culpable for their actions as a combiner. Yes, it doesn't look like the Combaticons will be going to jail any time soon...

Onslaught awakens to find Blast Off by his bedside, having been there since he woke a few hours earlier. Touched that Blast Off has spent all that time watching over him, Onslaught reaches out to stroke his hand. There's just something about Blast Off he's never noticed before...

Featured characters

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

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"You don't have to answer that message."
"You sound like Windblade."
"That's not an insult to me."
"I didn't say I meant it as one."

—Bumblebee and Starscream


"You know, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me and our little arrangement."
"Airachnid, it is not possible to forget you unless you sliced into my mind and took the memories yourself."
"You're too kind."

—Airachnid and Starscream


"You were a garbage fighter during the war and it took everything in my power to stop you from being killed. Which is probably why I didn't realize how undeniably appealing you were until afterwards. So appealing that I had to use all my strategic acumen to entrap you in this very relationship."
"So you find incompetence a turn-on?"
"Only from you."
"If I'd known that, I would have... pretended to be stupid... a lot... sooner..."

—The dream version of Onslaught whispers sweet nothings to Blast Off


"You live in a hovel with three grown 'bots, including a drunk, a sadist, and someone who barely knows you're alive, let alone that you're infatuated with him. You're financially ruined, functionally brain-dead, and if you ever do make it out of here you'll likely be in prison for the rest of your life."
"You think we can't escape?"
"Prison? Of course you can. But even then, Onslaught will never escape this war."

—Starscream and Blast Off


"We won't make him fall in love with you. We'll just make him notice you. It's not really manipulation. It's just a little nudge."

—Starscream tempts Blast Off


"You know... just standing there isn't helping anything... right?"
"Just plotting against you, boss."
(...)
"You spent that whole time watching me?"
"Well, like I said, it takes a while to plan the perfect murder."

—Onslaught awakes to the sight of Blast Off

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Back in issue #1, it was noted that the multiple Decepticons who had been assaulted were marked with mnemosurgery scars, leading to the conclusion that someone was attempting to obtain information about Swindle's fate from their minds. This issue, we learn that was indeed the case, and that Airachnid was the mnemosurgeon responsible; on page 5, a flashback shows her invading the brain of the generic 'con who died of his wounds on the first page of #1.
  • The Fateweavers of Eukaris were introduced in Windblade vol. 2 #6, but see "Errors" below.
  • The Combaticons remain comatose following the events of the first arc of the series, which concluded in issue #4.

Transformers references

  • Airachnid is, of course, a straight import of the Transformers: Prime character, unchanged in physical appearance, with a new backstory to fit her into IDW's world. Where her Prime self had only a spider-like robot mode, here, she actually turns into a spider.
  • Starscream mentions Vortex's predilection for dropping 'bots in mid-air, which was a trait of his mentioned in his original Generation 1 character profile.
  • On page 14, one of the Decepticons in the imaginary "coup" Starscream believes Onslaught might lead seems to be a G1-ified version of Robots in Disguise Steeljaw.

Real-world references

  • This issue's title is taken from the NoComply song of the same name.

Errors

  • The words on Starscream's datapad are not correctly aligned to the angle at which it's drawn.
  • On page 5, panel 4, the verb "prophesy" is used instead of the noun, "prophecy." This was corrected in the trade paperback release.
  • The Fateweavers are incorrectly referred to as "Fate Spinners". The trade paperback release mostly corrected the text to Fateweavers, with the exception of one instance of "Fate Spinners" on page 6.

Other trivia

  • Random Eukarian citizens Airachnid is shown to have experimented on in the past include a gorilla, and a fuzzy guy who looks like he turns into a chipmunk or something similar.

Covers (3)

  • Regular cover: Onslaught and Blast Off, framed by Airachnid's puppeting limbs, by Sara Pitre-Durocher; second in a series of themed two-character covers for this arc by Pitre-Durocher.
  • Subscription cover: The Combaticons, by Priscilla Tramontano
  • Retailer incentive cover: Airachnid's claws grasp Onslaught's face, by Sara Pitre-Durocher
  • (thumbnail)

    Curse of the Spider Woman.

  • (thumbnail)

    Starscream's Brigade.

  • (thumbnail)

    Give me your face!

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Reprints

  • (thumbnail)

    Till All Are One, Volume 3 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 76: Titans Return, Part 2 – cover art by Don Figueroa (Metroplex) and Sara Pitre-Durocher (retro)

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher

External links

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