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Thundercracker & Buster Save the World

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"Ha ha ha! What a story, Marissa!"
"Thundercracker & Buster
Save the World
(And Marissa Faireborn Helps, Too)"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published October 26, 2016
Cover date October 2016
Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Colors by Thomas Deer
Letters by Gilberto Lazcano
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

When Dire Wraiths attack the White House, Thundercracker learns it's time to stop trying to write a movie and start living one!

Contents

Synopsis

Called to the White House for a meeting with the President, Marissa Faireborn is not happy to learn that the commander-in-chief wants her to courier a briefcase. While she is protesting the president's assorted criticisms of her tenure as director of the Earth Defense Command, her phone goes off with an emergency alert: Scarlett and the forces of G.I. Joe have launched an attack on the former E.D.C. Bikini Atoll facility, which has been captured by the shape-shifting Dire Wraith aliens that were recently discovered to have infiltrated the Joe ranks. This news serves as the cue for the president's security team to reveal that they, too, are Dire Wraiths in disguise, as they shed their deception and shift into their true forms to attack!

In Pittsburgh, Thundercracker (now with a new arm to replace the one he recently lost), Buster, Bob, and D.0.C. are helping to evacuate the residents of a tenement building that has caught fire. Thundercracker juggles this with talking to Optimus Prime over his comm, and also his continued efforts to write his "Susan Journeyer" screenplay, which he is starting to find harder and harder. Once the humans have all been saved, Thundercracker's comm goes off again; this time, it's Marissa, calling him for help because he is the only Transformer she knows she can trust. The ex-Decepticon takes to the air with his animal buddies clinging on and rockets straight for Washington... but as soon as he arrives on the lawn of the White House, the Seeker clones standing guard open fire on him!

Inside, armed with armor-piercing ammo, Marissa is able to kill the Dire Wraiths and attempts to get the president to safety, but more Wraiths lurk all throughout the building. The two women run into aide Rashid Nasir, who guides them to the vice president's office, where the other staff have been gathered—but unfortunately, Nasir's vetting process proves to have been insufficient as two more people in the room reveal themselves to be Wraiths! Just then, Thundercracker crashes through the wall, knocked backwards by the last Seeker clone standing, crushing one of the Wraiths beneath him. He greets Marissa and sics Bob on the remaining Wraith, while he and D.0.C. combine their efforts to destroy the clone. The group quickly catches each other up and takes stock: at Marissa's behest, the president explains the briefcase she is carrying contains Joe Colton's supply of Ore-13, while another White House staffer concludes that if the Seeker clones were under the Wraiths' control, that means the situation room has been seized. Marissa laments their inability to identify Wraiths, at which point Buster begins viciously barking at the staffer, clearly smelling that something is amiss with her. Her ruse exposed, the staffer reveals herself as yet another Wraith, who Thundercracker immediately blasts into goo with the weapons systems built into his new arm.

Leaving Buster, Bob, and D.0.C. to guard the president, Marissa takes the Ore-13 and orders Thundercracker and Rashid to accompany her to the situation room. They blast their way through Wraith after Wraith to get there, but once they smash their way in, a Wraith posing as White House staff member "Ms. Jimenez" immediately senses the Ore-13 in their possession. She tears the briefcase from Rashid's hands (taking most of his fingers with it) and immediately combines the powerful mineral with her own black magics, infusing it into her body and transforming herself into a gigantic, winged Wraith-form. The giant Wraith opens fire on Marissa with beams of energy, prompting Marissa to switch opponents with Thundercracker so he can tackle the giant while she picks off the small ones. Still writing his screenplay in his head as he fights and unable to accomplish anything that satisfies him, an increasingly annoyed Thundercracker flies the Wraith miles up into the sky, claiming he's going to throw it into the sun... until the energy from the Wraith's hands damages his new arm enough that it breaks off. As the creature plummets Earthward, it continues to pontificate about its superiority, riiiiight up until its burning touch detonates the ammunition stored in the arm's weapons. The explosion incinerates the Wraith's wings, and, unable to fly, it lands right on the point of the Washington Monument, graphically impaling itself to death.

With the day saved, Thundercracker touches down and reunites with Marissa and his animal buddies. The victory has led Thundercracker to a personal revelation: he has lost the ability to write about Susan Journeyer because he doesn't truly understand her as a character, having always been a "seeker" of targets, never "seeking" for himself. As Buster licks his face, Thundercracker resolves to embark on a journey toward something new for himself. And that means one thing: ROAD TRIP!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Humans Others

Quotes

"Thundercracker! The White House is under siege—my team is down, and God help me—you're the only one I can trust!"
"Who is this?"
"Will you stop that?!"

—Marissa is not enjoying things quite as much as Thundercracker


"I swear to God, Taft never had to deal with this crap."

—The President


"Should we be worried about blasting aliens without asking questions?"
"Eh. Probably."

—Thundercracker and Marissa


"Thundercracker—we go in calmly and professionally and assess the situation."
BRATAT BRATAT BRATAT
"Die, alien invaders!"

—Marissa's got a plan, but Thundercracker's got one of his own


"I just got this arm. I'm gonna complain to Jetfire about this. He's not gonna wanna hear it, but I'm gonna say it."
"EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU, CYBERTRONIAN!"
"Yeah, no duh. Hey, watch out, that's where I keep the ammo. That burning arm."
"YOU MECHANICAL OGRE, I'LL--"
(...)
"...AMMO?"
KABOOM!

—Thundercracker and the Dire Wraith


"Hey, Faireborn! Looks like that thing—"
"Got the point, yeah."
"That's good! I was going to say "That thing's got organs when it's in solid form." But I like yours."

—A Dire Wraith getting impaled on the Washington Monument is an easy set-up, but Thundercracker proves to Marissa that he lacks the dry-cool wit to be an action hero

Notes

Continuity notes

  • This issues occurs roughly concurrently with the G.I. Joe: Revolution one-shot, in which the Joes' attack on the Bikini Atoll facility takes place. That issue was supposed to have been released before this one, but unfortunately, due to delays, it wasn't.
  • The President refers to the "loss" of Monument Valley, which happened in The Transformers #54 when Optimus Prime raised a Titan from beneath it. It was in this same issue that Thundercracker lost his arm to a cannon blast from Galvatron.
  • As noted in this issue, following the loss of Monument Valley, Marissa was replaced as head of the Earth Defense Command by Joe Colton, as seen in The Transformers #56. It was also in that issue that Garrison Blackrock was abducted from EDC custody, to which the President here makes reference.
  • Colton was slain by Rom in Revolution #1, because—as the Joes discovered in Revolution #3—he had been replaced with a Dire Wraith.
  • Colton's briefcase of Ore-13 previously appeared in the Revolution prelude. He was also carrying one around in the ROM: Revolution one-shot (in which it was established that the Wraiths could boost their powers by combining Ore-13 with their magicks); it looked different, but presumably it's supposed to be the same one.

Real-life references

  • The cat belonging to the family who Thundercracker rescues from the burning building is named "Jones", in what—given the whole "Hollywood movie" vibe of this issue—is presumably a reference to the cat of the same name from the movie Alien.
  • Dogs being able to detect disguised monsters is a wildly prolific Hollywood sci-fi trope, with the Terminator series being a famous example.
  • Marissa compares D.0.C. to the robotic character V.I.N.CENT from the movie The Black Hole.
  • While trying to suggest switching opponents, Marissa names the movies Strangers on a Train and Throw Momma From the Train, which are both (put rather simply) about people using others to solve their problems for them. Thundercracker's main point of reference for such a plot, though, is noir film Criss-Cross; it's no surprise that such a movie would be his favorite, given the fondness we learned he has for noirs and their tropes in The Transformers Holiday Special.

Errors

  • Joana Lafuente's first name is misspelled with two Ns on the inside-front cover.
  • On page 15, after his left hand gets mutilated, Rashid is seen clutching his right hand.
  • Despite having just lost his right arm, Thundercracker's got two hands in the last panel of the issue!

Covers (9)

  • (thumbnail)

    Our heroes in deep doo-doo.

  • (thumbnail)

    The best guests the White House has seen in years.

  • (thumbnail)

    Not much to say here.

  • (thumbnail)

    The fun bunch.

  • (thumbnail)

    What did Windblade do with Arcee?

  • (thumbnail)

    Let's see this happen IN the comic!

  • (thumbnail)

    Hot gingers.

  • TFRev DFDvar cvr.jpg
  • (thumbnail)

    Marcelo forgot to finish this one.

Advertisements

  • Optimus Prime #1
  • Revolution checklist
  • Revolution tie-in one-shots
  • Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency TV series (back cover)

Reprints

  • Revolution (March 29, 2017) ISBN 978-1631409370
    • Collects Revolution issues #0–5 and all the tie-in one-shots.
    • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
    • Hardcover format, exclusively sold through the comic book direct market.

External links

Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Thundercracker_%26_Buster_Save_the_World&oldid=1707820"
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