Comic Book / Transformers (2023)

More than meets the eye.

Ratchet: It's time to think about ourselves, Optimus. If you die, we all die. And if we're gone, the Decepticons take over. And what will be left of humanity then? If they're even worth saving?
Optimus Prime: They are worth saving, Ratchet. Everything is.

At the end of 2022, IDW Publishing lost the license to the Transformers, ending their seventeen-year tenure on the brand. But, as the old Furmanism goes... "It never ends."

Now, Image Comics, under Robert Kirkman's imprint Skybound, has taken up the reins as the publisher of Transformers comics, kicking off a brand-new continuity called the Energon Universe, which is shared with Kirkman's own Void Rivals, this continuity's first entry, and comics centered on this universe's incarnations of G.I. Joe and Cobra. Skybound's ongoing Transformers comic, which acts as the second entry in the Energon Universe continuity, is written and illustrated by Daniel Warren Johnson (Beta Ray Bill, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth) and had its first issue release on October 4, 2023. Jorge Corona joins the series as an alternative artist starting at Issue #7.

Spike Witwicky is a normal teenager trying to hold his frayed family together as his dad drinks himself blind over the death of Spike's older brother Jimmy. His girlfriend Carly struggles to get into art school. Spike's life is upended one night when he and Carly discover a crashed alien ship with some familiar Mechanical Lifeforms onboard. Before long, Spike and his family and friends find themselves thrown into the middle of the Forever War between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Now Earth is placed in the crosshairs of the evil Decepticons, and humanity's only hope for survival lies in the Autobots and Optimus Prime.

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Transformers includes examples of:

• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Many, the most notable being Optimus comforting Jetfire as he dies.
• Adaptation Deviation: While the comic is clearly taking its cues from the original Transformers cartoon and comic, a few changes are made to the starting roster of the Autobots and the Decepticons.
  • First, Megatron is not onboard the Ark when everyone else awakens, having apparently fallen off the Ark before it crashed. Leaving Starscream to take command in the beginning. Sister title Cobra Commander reveals that Megatron is currently in the captivity of Cobra La.
  • Second, Arcee and The Constructicons were not originally on board the Ark when it crashed. The characters being introduced later into the brand.
  • Meanwhile Huffer who was onboard the Ark when it crashed in the cartoon is shown to have stayed on Cybertron in issue #7.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Unlike most takes on the series, where the human companions are usually pretty well-adjusted, here the Witwickys are a broken home. Sparkplug is an alcoholic Shell-Shocked Veteran trying to drink away his memories of his trauma and the death of his wife and eldest son, Spike is desperately trying to become an astronaut as a way of processing his grief over his brother's death, and even Spike's girlfriend Carly is given a more somber situation as an impoverished woman trying to make it into art school despite the financial burden. It gets even worse as the end of issue #2 reveals that Davey was Carly's father, meaning that the Decepticons have killed her dad.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Spike has black rather than brown hair this time around, same with Carly who is normally a blonde.
• Adaptational Time Span Change: A background example. While most versions of the Autobot and Decepticon war last for thousands if not millions of years, Issue #2 reveals that the war in this universe has been going out for two hundred years instead.
• Alcoholic Parent: Sparkplug in this continuity seems to be a heavy drinker who drowns his sorrows often enough that he and Spike are on first-name basis with the bartender Danny.
• Always Someone Better: Megatron to Starscream, something the latter is painfully aware of.
• Ambiguous Situation: The status of Megatron himself seems to be one. His body is conspicuously not on the Ark when Jetfire finds it and Starscream is stated to be the leader of the Decepticons. Megatron is still clearly present in the setting, given that he is referenced by Starscream and Soundwave at the end of issue #1. Issue #2 blurs the lines even more by revealing he was on the Ark when it crashed. Issue #4 finally reveals that he's in stasis somewhere in the Arctic, having apparently fallen out of the Ark somehow during it's crash, and the G.I. Joe Comics reveal that COBRA has recovered his body.
• Ambiguous Time Period: While the series is seemingly set in The '80s with vague references to The Vietnam War and the Challenger Disaster, Sparkplug makes mention of the internet in issue three, and Arcee transforms into a 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto. Word of God from Daniel Warren Johnson has clarified that he isn't going for any one time period in particular, preferring to keep the book timeless. For what its worth, sister titles Duke and Cobra Commander are firmly set in the present, with smartphones and military drones.
• An Arm and a Leg: Optimus rips his own arm off and beats Skywarp with it, then subsequently has to replace it with Megatron's fusion cannon arm, itself severed from it's owner during the Ark's crash.
• Anyone Can Die: Bumblebee is shot in the head before the first issue is even halfway over, making clear this version of Transformers is NOT afraid to kill its cast.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: Amazingly, the comic somehow manages this. During Optimus climactic fight with Devastator in issue #6, one of the sound effects on the page reads "You Know the Song," signaling that Optimus' actions are being accompanied by the song "The Touch", which has become associated with Optimus, especially when he does something awesome.
• Bad Boss: Starscream, to no one's surprise. He insists on hunting down Optimus and Ratchet even though Skywarp can barely fly at this point and only agrees to go look for more energy for Soundwave and Skywarp because he doesn’t want to be compared to Megatron, all while generally bullying and degrading his henchmen. He doesn't even hesitate to tear apart a severely injured Skywarp in order to use his energon and components to repair Teletraan One, on the grounds that this will give him more troops to command, even as Skywarp is pleading and calling him "brother".
• Benevolent Boss: Unlike Starscream as mentioned above, Soundwave is shown to be a very good boss once he takes command, declaring that his first duty is to get everyone fixed up and back into fighting shape, as well as that they're going to succeed by working together, not mistreating one another.
• Big Bad: Starscream acts as the leader of the Decepticons at the start, having taken leadership from Megatron in his absence.
• Big Good: Optimus Prime. The solicitation for the first issue even mentions he's Earth's only hope.
• Big Damn Heroes: A newly repaired Jazz swoops in to drive off Starscream and Soundwave in issue 4, quickly turning the tide of the battle.
• Bittersweet Ending: The first arc of the comic ends with the Decepticons on the run and the Autobots taking back the Ark but it came at the cost of Sparkplug's life meaning Spike has been orphaned.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Optimus understands the concept of family but is somewhat baffled by the idea of parents when Spike mentions his, as Cybertronians don't reproduce sexually.
• Blatant Lies: Starscream keeps the peace when the newly revived Decepticons find Skywarp's gruesomely murdered body integrated into Teletraan by lying that Skywarp volunteered for it. He very much did not.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Starscream kills Sparkplug's buddy and Carly's father Davey by crushing him in his hand, with a very visceral red SQUISH sound effect and blood spraying across the panel. Then in issue 2 he kills a jet pilot with a clap of his hands.
• Body Horror:
  • When Starscream and Soundwave are forced to make do with parts from Skywarp to repair Teletraan, the end result is the lattermost being gruesomely integrated into the computer in a manner reminiscent of something from SOMA.
  • Ultra Magnus is kept prisoner by the Decepticons via stripping him down to a near-skeletal frame and nailing it to a wail to ensure he can't use any of his incredible power to escape.
• Book Ends: Issue #1 has Carly's father Davey die in a cruel and pointless manner. Issue #6 and the end of the first arc features Spike's father Sparkplug (seemingly) dying in a self sacrifice for the Autobot cause.
• Both Sides Have a Point: In issue #4, Soundwave lambasts Starscream for his lack of any real plans or goals outside of causing destruction, Starscream counters that it's hard to plan or get anything accomplished due to lack of soldiers and the inability to repair themselves because Soundwave can't fix Teletraan 1.
• Bullying a Dragon: Starscream's constant bullying and abuse towards Soundwave blows up in his face when the latter finally gets sick of it and challenges Screamer to a duel for leadership, a duel that Soundwave proceeds to very easily win by savagely beating Starscream to death.
• Call a Human a "Meatbag": Starscream frequently calls humans as "squishies" after killing Davey by squishing him in his hand.
• The Cameo:
  • In Issue #1, Teletraan One can be seen beginning to revive Reflector and Thundercracker before Optimus destroys the computer. Starscream also points his null ray at a deactivated Jazz before getting taken down by Optimus.
  • In Issue #2, the seeds of the Energon Universe's G.I. Joe stories are planted as Duke appears as a passenger in a fighter jet redirected to investigate the recent attack on a power plant by the Decepticons. Duke barely manages to survive.
• Cassandra Truth: A cop sent to investigate the attack on the power plant initially and understandably doesn't believe the workers when they claim they were attacked by a giant robot. His tune changes pretty quickly when the robots come back and one flattens his patrol car.
• Central Theme:
  • Grief, and how people respond to the death of loved ones.
  • Family, and the ways they support or hurt one another.
• Chekhov's Gun: In issue #2, Carly can be seen spray-painting a picture of Optimus on the side of her van. At the end of the issue, Laserbeak notices it while patrolling the area, leading him to give chase.
• Conservation of Detail: In robot mode, the Cybertronians are drawn as almost exact duplicates of the original Sunbow character models. In vehicle mode, they are instead drawn as realistic vehicles for those with Earth vehicle modes while Cybertronian designs are as simplistic as the cartoon design. However, if the characters receive any visible damage, said damage is drawn with much more detail than the design was when unblemished.
• Crapsack World: When we finally see Cybertron for the first time, it quickly becomes apparent that's long become a hellish warscape where days are made up of either mass starvation from lack of energon or bloody warfare.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Optimus makes mention of a god worshiped by the Transformers known as the Great Spark. Whether this is intended as new entity or this setting's version of Primus isn't clear.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Soundwave versus Starscream in issue 7. To say it goes badly for Starscream is a hilarious understatement, as he mostly spends the fight either being beaten into the ground or pathetically begging for his life.
• Darker and Edgier: The series can best be described as being like the original Marvel Transformers comics but without any content restrictions and a more mature, melancholic tone.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Bumblebee and Jetfire are both dead before the first issue is over. Also maybe Buster Witwicky, if Jimmy is meant to be this continuity's version of him.
  • Teletraan-1 is destroyed in issue #1, with Optimus reluctantly shooting it to prevent more Decepticons from being resurrected. It’s later rebuilt using the remains of Skywarp in Issue #4.
  • Issue #2 features a flashback to the war on Cybertron, showing Beachcomber being gunned down by Starscream and Soundwave.
  • Skywarp is killed by Starscream and Soundwave at the end of issue #4. Issue 7 reveals some part of him still lurks in Teletraan, but not much.
  • In Issue #7, Huffer, Warpath, and Kup die in the opening battle sequence.
• Dedication: At the end of issue #6, Daniel Warren Johnson dedicates the comic's first story arc to Optimus Prime's original voice actor Peter Cullen.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Jetfire dies in Optimus' arms, begging for forgiveness for accidentally unleashing the Decepticons on Earth.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Optimus discovers how fragile Earth is when he accidentally steps on and kills a deer, much to his immediate horror and regret. Afterwards he confesses to Spike that he's having trouble adjusting to a world not made of metal, one where he's a giant that often leaves some level of destruction just by walking around.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Befitting the theme of familial connections, the Autobots and Decepticons here are played up as akin to families, with the Autobots as a loving but struggling family trying to hold themselves together and the Decepticons as a toxic, dysfunctional family fraying after the loss of their patriarch. In particular, a lot of Starscream's interactions with Soundwave are given a distinct Big Brother Bully overtone.
• Downer Beginning: The opening for the series is pretty bleak. Cybertron has apparently been slowly dying for centuries even before the war broke out. Jetfire reactivates the Transformers onboard the Ark, only to find out in the worst way possible about the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, meaning he's inadvertently unleashed the Decepticons on Earth. By the end of the first issue Bumblebee and Jetfire are dead, with Jetfire dying in despair over his failed mission and the fate of his home planet. Even the human situation isn't that great, with Spike's family broken over tragedy and Carly's father Davey being killed by Starscream.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • As usual, Soundwave views his cassettes as family. When Ravage is wounded during the fight in issue one, Soundwave freaks out and rushes to his aid, spending the rest of the battle cradling him. This takes a tragic turn in issue 6, as Soundwave's grief and anger over his friend's injury ends up overriding his better judgement and causing him to reject an offer of peace with the Autobots.
  • Thundercracker is absolutely horrified when he learns about his brother Skywarp's murder for parts and Starscream has to lie about Skywarp "sacrificing" himself to keep things civil.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Soundwave is still a Decepticon and willing to steal what he needs from humans or defend himself, he doesn't go out of his way to attack and kill them unprovoked like Starscream and Skywarp do and is clearly unimpressed by them doing so. Highlighted by issue two when a cop opens fire on Soundwave, who simply ignores it since the cop can't possibly harm him… only for Starscream to sadistically stomp on the unlucky officer for no reason. Later in issue four, he calls out with visible disgust how killing and tormenting the locals does nothing to help their situation and that Starscream is just making everything worse for them with his bloodlust.
  • Thundercracker and the other revived Decepticons are shocked and enraged when they see that Skywarp has been murdered and integrated into Teletraan to repair them. Starscream only manages to keep them from a mass Freak Out by lying that the procedure was voluntary.
• Evil Former Friend: Much like in the old cartoon, Jetfire and Starscream were friends prior to the war, which unfortunately leads to Jetfire, being Locked Out of the Loop about the ongoing civil war, reawakening Screamer from stasis and unwittingly unleashing the Decepticons on Earth.
• Evil Is Petty: Starscream kills Davey at the end of Issue #1 simply because he can. In general, he shows cruel and sadistic pleasure in killing humans and does so at every available opportunity, regardless of how little threat they pose. Skywarp also shows clear intent to kill wounded and helpless combatants twice in issue #3.
• First-Episode Twist: Unlike previous versions of the Transformers story involving the Ark crash landing on Earth, this time it's the Decepticons who end up in control of the Ark with the Autobots on the run. From a meta perspective, the first Autobot casualty of the series is Bumblebee, one of the mascots of the brand.
• From Bad to Worse: From Jetfire’s point of view. Cybertron was suffering from an energy crisis, so Jetfire left to find more sources of Energon. After millions of years of barely finding anything, he’s filled with hope when he finds the Ark, only to become horrified when it turns out Cybertron has been at war for years and one of his oldest friends has become a cold-blooded sadistic murderer.
• Funny Background Event: As Starscream calls for a retreat in issue #4, Cliffjumper can be seen flipping the Decepticons off with both hands instead of actually shooting at them like Optimus and Jazz are.
• Ghost Memory: Not long after Sparkplug sacrifices himself to the Matrix, Optimus starts to experience flashes of memories of himself holding a newborn Spike, implying that Sparkplug's memories are starting to meld with his own.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: Starscream stomps on a police officer as part of his love for killing humans.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While Starscream is serving as leader of the Decepticons at the start, from the way Optimus describes him in Issue #2 Megatron is this for the setting.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Optimus intends on using the Matrix to heal Jetfire, but before he can, Ratchet sadly informs Optimus that Jetfire's injuries are simply too grave and too far gone; the Matrix can heal, but there are limits even to its power and it can't stop the inevitable.
  • In issue #4, we learn that the Matrix's healing power actually drains Optimus' own life energies to use, so there's only so much he can use, depending on his condition, without dying. Also, when Sparkplug asks Optimus to use it to revive Spike from his coma, Optimus sadly tells him that such a feat is beyond its power.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sparkplug gives his lifeforce to the Matrix so it can heal Optimus and empower him enough to bring down Devastator.
• Human Resources:
  • Starscream and Soundwave tear Skywarp apart for the components required to repair Teletraan 1.
  • Sparkplug feeds himself to the Matrix in order to give it the energy necessary to heal Optimus.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Spike is accidentally shot in the gut when caught between Skywarp and the reckless gunfire from the townsfolk aimed at the latter.
• Immediate Sequel: It evidently hasn’t been that long since Jetfire left Darak and Solila back in Void Rivals. He tracked down the Ark’s signal and saved what little Energon he had found to revive its inhabitants.
• Improvised Weapon: After his left arm is damaged beyond use in issue 3, Optimus tears it off and uses it as a club to bring down Skywarp.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Starscream is heavily implied to be motivated mostly by a desire to prove himself as leader of the Decepticons and stop being trapped in Megatron's shadow.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Starscream murdering Sparkplug's coworker, Davey. Unlike with the Autobots he kills, there's no war justification or pragmatism to it; he does it purely because he can. Ditto the fighter jet pilot in issue 2, who was harmlessly parachuting down to Earth; Starscream crushes him in his hands with a sadistic smile on his face. Then again in issue 4, he proceeds to open fire in a hospital, solely for the purpose of murdering humans in front of Optimus.
  • Issue 5 goes far more literal, when he straight-up PUNTS Ravage right out of Soundwave's arms to repair Thundercracker instead. He lives to regret this two issues later when Soundwave beats him to death, with the latter specifically noting that kicking Ravage was the last straw.
  • Skywarp trying to kill Spike while he's wounded with a bullet wound in the gut. This is after he sadistically kicks around a bunch of hapless townsfolk for getting between him and Cliffjumper.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In issue #2 after seeing his friend Davey's death and the ensuing Decepticon attack on his power plant, Sparkplug decides to suit up in his army greens again.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Issue #1 is basically a reimagining of the first episode of the G1 cartoon, with the Autobots and Decepticons aboard the Ark deactivating when it crash-lands on Earth, later reactivating in the "present day" when Teletraan One rebuilds them into new Earth-based forms, starting with one of the Decepticons (Skywarp in the cartoon, Starscream in this series).
    • It also serves as a Compressed Adaptation of "Fire in the Sky," as Jetfire goes through the same arc of working with the Decepticons, realizing they're the bad guys, and apparently sacrificing himself to defeat them. Unlike in that episode, it sticks.
  • This is far from the first time a Transformers series has opened with Starscream in command instead of Megatron. Transformers: Prime was like that from its first episode, and even the first entry of IDW's original continuity, the miniseries Infiltration, had Starscream as the leader of the Earth-based Decepticons.
  • The Police Cars in issue #2 are directly based on Prowl's iconic vehicle mode.
  • Issue #4 reveals that, like in the first live action movie, Megatron's arrival on Earth resulted in him being deactivated and frozen in the Arctic.
  • Issue #5's battle takes on a hydroelectric dam, evoking the iconic battle sequence from the original cartoon where the Autobots and Decepticons fight on Sherman Dam.
  • Optimus' near death in issue 6 has a few shots that evoke his actual death in Transformers The Movie.
  • Optimus offers Soundwave a chance to end the conflict peacefully, which Soundwave strongly considers only to reject it out of belief that the conflict has gone too far for it to work, paying homage to a sequence◊ from the Marvel UK comic story "Space Pirates!".
  • As Optimus charges into battle against Devastator after gaining his Heroic Second Wind, the words “you know the song” are seen in the panel, all but saying that “The Touch”, a popular song in the fandom for its use in the 1986 movie, would be playing during the fight.
  • In another nod to the Marvel UK comics, when challenged for leadership by Soundwave, Starscream offers to do a joint-leadership, similar to how he, Soundwave, and Shockwave shared leadership during the "Earthforce" stories. Here, however, Soundwave has no interest in such a thing and makes that known with his fists.
  • It was a well-established plot element in Transformers: Prime that Starscream would abandon anything he planned if Soundwave showed even the slightest hint of displeasure, given that the Deception Communications Officer would utterly hand him his skidplate on a silver platter if he didn't. Starscream and Soundwave's death match in issue #7 is basically what would've happened if Screamer took the other route.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Jetfire arrives to revive Optimus and the other Transformers aboard the Ark… completely unaware of the war that had erupted in his centuries-long absence, meaning he first wakes up Starscream and the Decepticons!
  • Optimus finally manages to beat Skywarp... only for Danny the local bartender to shoot Optimus in the arm giving Skywarp the opening he needs.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In issue #2 Starscream knocks a fighter plane to the ground during a dog fight. The plane ends up crashing on top of Skywarp not only alerting the Autobots to the Decepticon's location but also allowing Sparkplug to escape. In issue 4 instead of killing Optimus when he's helpless, he opens fire on a hospital for added cruelty to the Autobot leader. Which gives Ratchet and Jazz time to arrive and counter attack.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: When Cliffjumper has a chance to finally kill a disabled Starscream, he hesitates and finds he can't go through with gunning down a defenseless person, even one as bad as Starscream, declaring that he's just tired of all the death and war. Unfortunately, Starscream immediately takes advantage of that mercy to nearly kill both Cliff and Carly.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After challenging him to leadership, Soundwave proceeds to beat Starscream to death with his bare hands.
• Painting the Medium: Humans are given rounded speech bubbles that use a "handwritten"-looking font, while the Cybertronians have rectangular speech bubbles with a more "digital"-looking font. Soundwave's speech box is blue with yellow text, to suggest he has a unique voice from other Transformers.
• Paper Tiger: For all of Starscream's bloodlust and sadism, when he's in an actual proper fight for the first time in issue 7 with no leverage, backup, or advantages, he turns out to be a laughably weak fighter and Dirty Coward who spends most of the battle (if it can even be called such) trying to bargain for his life like a pathetic loser while getting beaten to a pulp.
• Poor Communication Kills: The townsfolk initially don't perceive any difference between Autobot and Decepticon, resulting in them opening fire on Optimus and Cliffjumper and making the fight with Skywarp in issue three far more disastrous than it should've been.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Soundwave repeatedly calls out Starscream and Skywarp for wasting precious time and resources tormenting humans, noting that it does nothing but distract from their more immediate goals and worsen their already bad situation by giving them yet more enemies.
• Punch-Clock Villain: While Starscream is a vicious sadist who kills humans and Autobots alike for pleasure and to soothe his ego as much as for the war and Skywarp is a violent moron, Soundwave comes off as a normal soldier stuck under the command of a total lunatic, mostly wanting to just get what they need and go rather than pick fights with the locals.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In issue #3, Soundwave expresses his dissatisfaction with Starscream's leadership, and even name checks Megatron. Upon hearing this, Starscream rudely backhands Soundwave and shouts "I told you! Do! Not! Say! His! Name!"
• Reconstruction: To the "idea" of Optimus Prime, the morally incorruptible leader. While The Transformers: Robots in Disguise deconstructed the concept over the course of its run, showing how the concept of a messianic leader figure could be used to corrupt and manipulate even when used by someone with good intentions, this series instead presents Optimus Prime as a brave, noble figure who always does the right thing despite his war-weariness, even if doing so puts the Autobots at a tactical disadvantage and raises criticism from his troops.
• Red Shirt: Subverted and deconstructed. Davey, Sparkplug's coworker, seems like a generic nobody there to be somebody for Starscream to kill… and then the next issue reveals he was actually Carly's dad.
• Rescue Equipment Attack: How Duke manages to escape from Starscream. Firing a flare gun in the Decepticon's face.
• Retro Universe: While the series purposefully takes place in an Ambiguous Time Period, the general feel and vibe of the world is unmistakably 80s.
• Revisiting the Roots:
  • After both IDW continuities both ended up going in pretty different directions for the brand (with the second not even getting to the point where the war spreads to Earth before it ended), Earthspark being mostly focused on life after the Cybertronian Civil War, and Rise of the Beasts focusing on the Autobots battling Unicron, this comic goes for a much more classic set up. The Ark crash lands on Earth with Autobot and Decepticon alike inside, the Transformers awaken in the present day and continue their war for resources on Earth with the Autobots befriending a young human. The story adds in just enough twists and turns to keep things fresh, however.
  • After several continuities playing the Autobot/Decepticon conflict as a straight Black-and-Gray Morality, with Optimus as a flawed and less ideal hero, the Autobots as a morally complicated force and the Decepticons presented in a Well-Intentioned Extremist light, this series brings the conflict back to its' roots in the 80s, where the Autobots are unambiguously the heroes and the Decepticons ruthless, sadistic monsters.
• Rip Van Winkle: All the Autobots and Decepticons have been asleep for approximately one hundred years and are awakened on Earth thanks to Jetfire.
• Robo Family: In issue #2, Optimus notes that even though the concepts of mothers and fathers are unfamiliar to him, he does know of "family". In issue #4, Cliffjumper mentions that he is the Sole Survivor of his "clan" after Starscream killed the rest off.
• Rule of Symbolism: At the start of the first issue, Sparkplug has a flashback to his service in the military, specifically of himself cradling a dying buddy of his who was shot in the face. When Optimus sees Bumblebee's body after the latter is shot in the head by Starscream, he cradles Bee in the exact same way.
• Shared Universe: The second (and arguably the main) entry in the Energon Universe. In particular, Jetfire's awakening was depicted in the first entry Void Rivals and directly leads to his role in this story. Similarly Duke makes a cameo in issue #2 setting up his mini-series.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Sparkplug is haunted as much by his memories of warfare as he is by his eldest son Jimmy's death. Optimus is suggested to be similarly affected by the Transformers' own war.
• Shout-Out: A robot tears off his own arm and bludgeons another robot with it. Now where have we seen this before?
• The Starscream: As per usual, the Trope Namer himself shows up, and in one line makes it clear he will not take being compared to Megatron. Ironically, his bad leadership causes him to fall victim to his own trope when Soundwave decides he would make a better leader than Starscream and actually succeeds in usurping him.
• Stupid Evil: Starscream is no master strategist. Aside from showing blatant disregard for any stealth or subtlety, he goes out of his way to kill and pick fights with Autobots and humans, even when it's counter to the Decepticons' goals. He also has to have obvious details like his troops' lack of resources regularly pointed out to him by Soundwave, as he's otherwise more concerned with his own sadistic whims.
• Token Good Teammate: Thundercracker to the Decepticons, as is often the case. His moral code is much stronger than his comrades and he comes off less like a villain and more like a guy who just ended up on the wrong side without meaning to. Soundwave to a lesser extent, as while he's brutally pragmatic and willing to dirty his hands, he's not a sadist like Starscream and mostly just wants to keep as many of his people alive as he can manage while completing their objectives as soldiers. Notably, when Optimus asks Soundwave to end things peacefully, the latter actually seems to consider it and only refuses out of anger and grief over Optimus shooting Ravage earlier.
• Truer to the Text: The last time a version of Spike Witwicky was in a Transformers comic, it was in IDW's first continuity; which dramatically reinvented the character as a military man who hated the Transformers for bringing their war to Earth. This version of Spike Witwicky is far closer to that of the original cartoon, a friendly teenager who ends up empathizing and allying with the Autobots, becoming their guide to Earth and its culture.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Starting with issue 7, we begin cutting intermittenly to Cybertron to follow Elita-One and her crew's efforts to fight against the Decepticon Empire ruling the planet.
• Unfriendly Fire: Devastator doesn't really concern himself with little things like allies being danger close, and ends up accidentally punting Starscream into the air while trying to fight Optimus.
• Unsound Effect: Several non-standard sound effects are used for emphasis, such as "HEAVY METAL" for Long Haul's Dynamic Entry in issue 5. Issue 6 uses two in quick succession - "AW YEAH" as Optimus gets his second wind and "YOU KNOW THE SONG" as he charges into battle against Devastator.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jetfire, without knowledge of the War or the two factions, activates the Transformers on the Ark. The Decepticons wind up taking the initial advantage, as Starscream is reactivated first and then immediately kills Bumblebee with a shot to the head, with Skywarp and Soundwave (alongside his cassettes) also coming online, while the only Autobots to be reactivated before Optimus destroys Teletraan One are himself and Ratchet, forcing them to make a hasty retreat. This could be extended to Darak and Solila from Void Rivals as well, since they were the ones who reactivated Jetfire and set off this chain of events in the first place.
• Wham Line: The final line of Issue #2 establishes Sacrificial Lamb Davey, Sparkplug's coworker who was killed by Starscream, is Carly's father.
  Sparkplug: They killed Davey. They killed your dad.
• What If?: A meta example; issue 7 shows us exactly what would've happened in Prime if Starscream didn't have enough sense to avoid incurring Soundwave's ire. It doesn't end well for him.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Daniel Warren Johnson is a pretty big wresting fan, so it's inevitable that this trope would come into play.
  • In the big fight in Issue #1, Optimus Prime uses classic wrestling moves like suplexes when fighting hand to hand. Ratchet also lands Masahiro Chono's yakuza kick on Starscream.
  • In issue #3, Optimus uses Kenta Kobashi's notorious "Burning Hammer" finisher on Skywarp.
• Worthy Opponent: While Optimus and Megatron have yet to interact on-screen, the former implies that he holds some respect for the latter, at least in relation to Starscream:
  Optimus (regarding Megatron's repurposed arm): Are you sure this doesn't make you quake in your jets, Starscream? Last I remember, you were cowering in front of this very weapon. A constant reminder of what you'll never be.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Played with. Sparky arming himself to the teeth and getting ready to hunker down with his son and his best friend's daughter is a pretty reasonable reaction to seeing a giant robot swoop down from the sky and crush your best friend to death. He specifically goes to her house because her dad was the one that got crushed, and takes it upon himself to protect both her and his son. However, he doesn't listen when the kids try to warn him that not all of the aliens are evil and a ricocheting bullet puts Spike in a coma. He only survives thanks to Optimus.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: With Skywarp badly wounded and near-death anyways, Starscream and Soundwave decide that scrapping him for spare parts to repair Teletraan and thus save all the other Decepticons on the Ark is more useful than just leaving him sitting around. So that's precisely what they do. Skywarp's understandable protests are duly noted and ignored.