« The Transformers: Monstrosity #10 »
"The Illusion of Control"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 3,2013
Story by	Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Early in the war

The Autobots fight Trypticon while Scorponok pays the price for his coup.

Synopsis

Angry with himself for his failure to keepDai Atlas andGrimlock from leaving,Optimus Prime voices his frustration toAlpha Trion, but the sage's advice is interrupted by reports thatTrypticon is rampaging acrossCybertron in the direction ofHarmonex. After ordering his troops to prepare their biggest guns, Prime goes to ask for help fromMetroplex, who recognizes Trypticon as a monster he helped seal away in ancient times. However, he cannot join the fight this time as theenergon crisis has robbed him of the energy he needs transform intorobot mode. Without theTitan's help, theAutobots devise a plan to use the buildings of Harmonex against Trypticon, though they regret that they will have to ruin the beautiful Singing City in the process.Blurr's harassment team lures Trypticon close to the city's central structure, whereIronhide's heavy weapons units is waiting to blast him withfusion-borers. While the monster is distracted by the barrage, theAerialbots bombard the building, collapsing it and burying Trypticon in rubble.

Meanwhile,Scorponok is pulled away from reveling in the destruction caused by Trypticon byStarscream, who invites him toKolkular's main hall where theDecepticons are waiting to honor their "true leader". On entering the hall, however, he finds that Starscream was in fact referring to a returningMegatron, who greets him by crippling him with an energy blast. Scorponok attempts to flee, fight and finally plead for mercy with Megatron, but nothing works—Megatron unceremoniously shoots him in the head and leaves him to be torn to pieces by theTerrorcons, though not before ordering them to keep him alive so that he can continue to feel pain. Having finally taken back his position as Decepticon leader, Megatron gets back to business and demands to know what has happened to his planet in his absence.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• As well as fusion-borers andgrav-inhibitors, Prime also requisitions industrial-gradephase-charges from Magnus.
• The heart of Metroplex visited by Optimus Prime is theMatrix shrine previously seen in hisAcropolex disguise inissue #5 ofAutocracy.
• Metroplex describes Trypticon as a "spawn ofMortilus", a death god introduced in theMore than Meets the Eye2012 annual. It's almost certain that Dille and Metzen—the relationship of whose work on the "-acy" series to the other present-day IDW series could be defined as "distant" at best—did not mean this to be idiomatic, butMore than Meets the Eye #28 quietly retconned it into being so, because part of the whole point of Mortilus and theGuiding Hand is that it isn't known if they're even real or not, and for Metroplex to so matter-of-factly state that Mortilus existed would pretty much shatter that.
  • And thenSalvation came along and retconned it back in, with Trypticon actively remembering his creation at the hands of Mortilus. Of course, the Guiding Hand turned out to be real, so it checks out.
• Some moreThe Transformers: The Movie quotes happen when Scorponok reacts to Megatron's return with "Megatron? Is that you?", to which Megatron replies "Here's a hint." and shoots him.

Reprints

Other thancollections of the full series.

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