The Iron Age

	; It's clobberin' time.
	"The Iron Age"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 12, 2010
Cover date	May 2010
Written by	Mike Costa
Art by	Casey Coller
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Associate editor	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

Ironhide wakes up on Cybertron... better, but all alone!

Synopsis

On present-day Cybertron, inside an abandoned Autobot headquarters building, a console monitor beeps...

4 million years ago, Optimus Prime and a small team of Autobots are battling a squad of Decepticons carrying a small convoy of energon. Prime orders Blurr to disorganize the Decepticons by breaking through their ranks and force them to chase him. Windcharger wants to help too, but Prime tells him that he's not as fast as Blurr and orders him to stay and hold the line with Groove, then orders Prowl to hold the line as well. Prowl suggests that he can get to higher ground and pick them off if they go to the alleys. Prime orders Prowl to send Hound, but stay and command from the ground while Prime goes and flanks them alone. Prowl thinks it's suicide, but Prime warns him that if the convoy is delivered, then the city falls, something Prime won't let happen. Prowl suggests sending Silverbolt for an aerial strike, but a determined Prime tells him that he's going in.

Ducking into the alley, Optimus manages to avoid being sensed by Ravage, but is downed by a blast from Soundwave's concussion blaster. Soundwave then orders Rumble to tear Prime's optics out. However, before he realizes it, Soundwave notices a red Cybertronian truck run over Ravage and plow right into him. The truck them transforms and slugs Rumble so hard, he breaks half of his visor. Optimus, recognizing the Transformer as his friend Ironhide, asks what took him so long to save him; Ironhide replies with the retort that "slow and steady wins the race". Dragging the unconscious Soundwave, Ironhide asks Prime if he wasn't on planning to do something crazy like taking on the convoy by himself, to which Prime replies that Ironhide was running late, drawing a smile on his face.

Ramjet, leading the convoy, is annoyed that Megatron ordered him to guard the convoy on the ground rather that the air. Believing that Megatron has no vision, Ramjet starts thinking that he'll run Cybertron, but is knocked down by the butt of Optimus Prime's laser gun. Prime tells the others that their "scout" needed to pay more attention, and that recruiting Decepticons with ambitious goals leads them to losing. Long Haul taunts Prime, asking if he's going to fight all of them. Prime instead says that they'll come quietly. When asked why, Prime says that his bodyguard is covering him with Soundwave's blaster, detonating the 75 tons of energon they're carrying. Tankor calls Prime's bluff, thinking that Prime would kill himself stopping the energon shipment and wasting four city blocks. Prime dares them to try, while Ironhide adjusts the blaster, laughing lightly...

Later, the Autobots celebrate their victory at their headquarters. Prowl is amazed that Ironhide helped him, but is proud to call Optimus a "Prime", due to his inspiration to the Autobots. When asked if he intends to give a speech, Prime says that the speeches can wait tomorrow; for now, they want to celebrate. Optimus and Ironhide go outside and meet up with Kup, who starts the conversation by saying that Prime should go and give a speech. Prime says that he's just a soldier and that words don't come easy, believing that he would stumble his words like having too much energon drinks at Maccadam's. Ironhide agrees with Prime, saying that since Prime can handle Decepticons, he doesn't have to talk. Kup reminds Optimus that he's a Prime now whether he likes it or not, that it takes more than soldiering, and by seeing things past the tactical side of combat.

TheIronAge ironhide take shot for prime.jpg

Optimus says that he does see things, but thinks that the Great War will continue for a long time, longer than any of them can imagine. When asked why he believes that, Prime says that he thinks they're fighting for a philosophy, an idea that no one can defeat. Ironhide asks if they aren't gonna win, but Prime counters that while an idea can't be defeated, it can be changed, but neither he nor anyone else knows what it takes to do that. Until then, Prime has to keep winning battles, and with that, he goes back inside to celebrate. Ironhide tells Kup that Prime's the finest soldier he's ever met and liked, but doesn't understand him, and neither does Kup, then Ironhide, too, goes back inside.

Surveying the party scene, Ironhide notices an unusual party guest: a white and blue colored Transformer standing there, not conversing, nor celebrating. Ironhide asks Silverstreak who the suspicious character is, but Silverstreak can't remember his name, nor does he care, wanting to get wasted on energon. Studying some more, Ironhide's suspicions are confirmed when the guest suddenly alters his appearance and pulls out a rifle from his leg. Ironhide, shoving partying Autobots aside, warns Optimus, just as the would-be assassin, Axer, fires at him. Ironhide takes the blast meant for Prime...

...and wakes up screaming. Ironhide then realizes that he had a dream, and is lying on an table in the darkened Autobot medical facility, fully repaired. Realizing that the medical lab is empty, Ironhide walks out of the lab, then down the dark halls, calling out to anyone available. No one answers, and Ironhide stumbles outside, realizing that he's outside on present-day Cybertron, all by himself in the middle of nowhere!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Decepticons

Groove (1)
Prowl (2)
Optimus Prime (3)
Windcharger (4)
Hound (9)
Blurr (10)
Ironhide (13)

Gizmo (19)
Download (20)
Silverbolt (21)
Bluestreak (22)
Blaster (23)
Jazz (24)
Kup (25)

Beachcomber (26)
Warpath (27)
Brawn (29)
Tracks (30)
First Aid (31)
Cosmos (32)

Buzzsaw (5)
Soundwave (6)
Laserbeak (7)
Hook (8)
Ravage (11)
Rumble (12)

Ramjet (14)
Tankor (15)
Scrapper (16)
Mixmaster (17)
Long Haul (18)
Axer (28)

Quotes

"What took you so long?"
"Well, you know me, Optimus. Slow and steady wins the race."

—Optimus Prime questions Ironhide's approach to rescuing his friends.

Notes

First appearances: Groove

Continuity notes

Ramjet's budding desire to lead the Decepticons ultimately leads to the events of Spotlight: Ramjet.
Among the celebrating Autobots is a group made up of Brawn, First Aid, and Cosmos, previously established as a team in Spotlight: Jazz.

Transformers references

Many of the Cybertronian designs are borrowed from Don Figueroa's redesigns in The War Within. Some were used later in Megatron Origin.

Errors

While Bluestreak was previously referred to by his original name in both Stormbringer and Spotlight: Blaster, and will be again in Bullets (published a few months after the release of this issue), here he is referred to as "Silverstreak", the substitute name his toys required for trademark reasons at the time of this issue's publication, which was first used in "New Arrivals, Old Encounters", despite the scene in this issue taking place in the far past. Although "Silverstreak" was subsequently seen in "Seasons in Flight" in a different color scheme, while a lookalike Autobot in Bluestreak's original colors appeared elsewhere in the concurrently set "The Hanging Sword", thus suggesting the possibility that "Bluestreak" and "Silverstreak" might be different characters (alternatively, the appearance in "The Hanging Sword" was simply an error on behalf of the artist which the editor either didn't catch or didn't care about), the "Silverstreak" who appears in this issue features the same "Blue Bluestreak" color scheme previously seen in Stormbringer and Spotlight: Blaster, so something is amiss either way.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Ironhide ready to bust some Decepti-chops with Optimus Prime behind him; art by Marcelo Matere (with facial designs vaguely reminiscent of Don Figueroa's work in the main series) and colors by Priscilla Tramontano.
Cover B: Cybertronian-era Ironhide, with Cybertron below; art by Casey Coller with colors by Joana Lafuente.
Cover RI: Text-free "virgin" version of Cover A.