« The Transformers: Primacy #4
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 19,2014
Cover date	November 2014
Story by	Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Early in the war

As the Autobots counterattack, Megatron makes a desperate attempt to purge the evil of Pentius... but will Optimus Prime fight to stop him, or help him?

Synopsis

The vision ofPentius he has just witnessed leavesMegatron disoriented and distracted as theDecepticons' aerial forces bombard theAutobots' command position, but soon, the villains' tactics start working against them. The atmospheric alterations brought on by theacid rain they previously unleashed starts to affect the Decepticons' systems, and they begin dropping out of the sky; once on the ground, they are met in battle by the fighting-mad Autobots—joined at last byOmega Supreme—who have survived their bombardment thanks toTrailbreaker's forcefield. Leaving his men to fight, Megatron makes forTrypticon's fallen body, hoping to transfer Pentius's spark out of the giant before the Quintesson restores him, in order to saveCybertron from being consumed by the beast. Before departing, he givesSoundwave one last order: if he fails, burnIacon to the ground to spare it that fate.

Elsewhere on the battlefield,Hot Rod comes up againstOnslaught, but is saved by his old friendSlinger, who now sees the error he made in joining the Decepticons. No sooner have the two comrades made peace, however, than Slinger is ripped limb from limb in a surprise attack by thePredacons, leaving Hot Rod to face them alone. Fortunately, help soon arrives for the young Autobot: having slain his old foeBlackwall by stabbing him through the head with hisfiresword,Grimlock rallies hisDynobots and brings them to Hot Rod's aid. Hot Rod and Grimlock take onRazorclaw together, and Grimlock shatters the Predacon leader's jaws by pulling them apart with his bare hands.

Megatron easily fights his way through the Autobot unit at the base of Trypticon, but is given momentary pause when faced withBumblebee, who can see fear in Megatron's eyes. Though impressed with the little 'bot's courage and perception, Megatron impales him on some debris and carries on his way.Optimus Prime spots his old enemy and heads after him;Motormaster tries to bar his way, but as the two charge each other invehicle mode, Optimus proves himself King of the Road, barrelling into theStunticon leader and hurling him aside. Omega Supreme deals with the rest of the Stunticons, preventing them from interfering with Optimus's mission, and the Autobot leader soon catches up to Megatron atop the fallen Trypticon's head. As the pair engage in combat with energy weapons, Megatron cryptically warns Optimus of the threat posed by the Quintessons, and tries to goad the Prime into killing him, seeing it as the only way to destroy Pentius—the essence of whosespark remains fused to his own—before he can revive Trypticon. Realizing what Megatron is trying to force him to do, Optimus offers to help him find a way to destroy the malign presence, but Megatron believes it impossible without his death. Optimus refuses to accept this, and unleashes the power of theMatrix of Leadership; its burning white fire successfully eradicates Pentius, but Megatron expresses no gratitude, vowing instead that he will never stop hating Optimus despite what he has done for him. Optimus, sadly resigned to the fact that the spark of the 'bot he once considered a friend became corrupt long before Pentius influence touched it, knocks the weakened Megatron out with a single punch.

Moments later, Prime addresses the Autobots and Decepticons via a huge hologram broadcast, announcing Megatron's defeat, calling for an end to the fighting and vowing that the Decepticons will face justice. Megatron is subsequently imprisoned, and Optimus's surety in, and dedication to, the Autobot cause is left stronger than ever.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Tantrum: "I can smell the fear on this Autobot."
Divebomb: "He'll taste sweet—likemolten steel. First bite'smine."
Hot Rod: "It won't be that easy, Predacon."
Grimlock: "I think they almost believed ya, kid."
Hot Rod: "Grimlock?"
Grimlock: "Just a thought—but next time someone's tryin' to kill you, use your big-boy voice."

Notes

Continuity notes

• Megatron refers to the "torture [Bumblebee] experienced at [his] hands", a callback toAutocracy #10.
• A pointy-headed robot shows up in the background of the first panel on page 16, just over Swerve's shoulder; he's aNAIL who previously appearedRobots in Disguise#1,#2, and#3 (in which he died), and whose color scheme was based on theGoBots"Series 2" redeco of the originalCy-Kill toy.
• Sandstorm appears with the design he had inLast Stand of the Wreckers; previously, this was the chronologically earliest appearance Sandstorm had in IDW continuity, so his physical appearance here is in-keeping with that.
• Megatron's imprisonment adds a note of finality to Dille and Metzen's IDW trilogy, but of course, we know he cannot stay incarcerated for long. Chronologically, the next known event in Megatron's timeline is, sure enough, revealed inPost to be his escape from the jail, aided by his Decepticons.
• Speaking of finality, the last page of this issue repeats thefirst page ofAutocracy #1, with the panels in reversed order (plus a few minor changes, such as the Matrix glowing inside Optimus Prime's chest, which he—then still as Orion Pax—didn't have yet at the beginning ofAutocracy), bringing the whole trilogy full circle.

Transformers references

• Optimus and Megatron wheel out theirenergon-axe andenergon mace, originally seen in theoriginalThe Transformers cartoon episode, "More than Meets the Eye, Part 2".
• Motormaster's (literal) head-to-head confrontation with Optimus Prime is, of course, a reference to his infamous clash with Prime in the G1 cartoon episode "Masquerade", itself derived from Motormaster's originalbio, which noted his desire to beat Prime and his inability to prevail in a collision with him.

Errors

• We didn't get a proper look at Breakdown when the Stunticons were introduced inissue #2 so we don't have any evidence to say whether it's consistent with the new designs created for the team, but he's coloured red instead of his traditional off-white as Omega Supreme takes the Stunticons out.

Covers (3)

• Regular cover: Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave, byLivio Ramondelli. Part of an interlocking image with the regular covers of the other three issues.
• Subscription cover: Optimus versus Megatron, bySaren Stone.
• 30th Anniversary cover: The second in November's series of three 30th Anniversary covers byAndrew Griffith, depictingSpringer andWreck-Gar's battle fromThe Transformers: The Movie

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