Descent into Evil - Transformers Wiki
A team of Autobots must stop Deathsaurus from reviving the Decepticon empire with hordes of self-replicating Insecticons.
Contents
Synopsis
Aboard her ship, undercover Tripredacus agent Flamewar reports in to her overseers, the Tripredacus Council, regarding events in the Ceti Alpha Seven system....
The Autobots have sent in a team of six to destroy General Deathsaurus's Insecticon cloning lab, where a first batch of clones has already been created. Four Autobots leave the ship to patrol on the ground: Chromia, Ricochet, Flareup, and Fallback. Fallback urges caution, but Chromia and Flareup, having previously faced one of the Insecticons, Buzzclaw, are unconvinced of the danger. However, the group are suddenly assaulted by Dirge's sonic attack, forcing the Autobots to switch to radio communication, and are attacked Dirge and a squadron of clones. At first, the Autobots fare well against the fragile clones, but then Deathsaurus himself joins the battle.
Aboard the orbiting Autobot ship, Ratchet and Ironhide observe the battle not going well and head to the surface. They soon find the battle site and several of their comrades' abandoned weapons, then come under attack by Buzzclaw and more clones. Ironhide defeats Buzzclaw, but then finds himself up against Deathsaurus. He orders Ratchet to go find the others while he holds off the General. Though he fares well against the larger Decepticon, Flamewar chooses that moment to intervene, shooting Ironhide in the back. The Tripredacus Council wishes to speed up events. Deathsaurus and Flamewar argue briefly over the role of politicians vs. warriors, and Flamewar departs, informing Deathsaurus that she took care of Ratchet as well.
Ironhide and Ratchet awake to find themselves bound inside the lab. Deathsaurus informs them that the lab is rigged to explode, as a second batch of clones has been generated and they contain all the information he needs to create more. Deathsaurus signs off...and Ricochet pops in through an air duct to set the two free. Ratchet notes that he was able to gather the others before getting knocked out. The team makes a hasty exit as the lab obliterates itself.
The Tripredacus Council is pleased by the report, but the transmission is interrupted by a mirthful Bumblebee, who informs Flamewar that Ricochet planted a virus into the second batch of clones. Flamewar has given the Autobots a good chase, but now she's compromised. The Council tells her she has exposed herself to the enemy and is now a liability, and with a touch of a button, they destroy her ship.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Notes
Canonizing, followed by cannonizing.
- This issue was available at BotCon 2005 and promoted the various exclusive toys available at the convention, all of which make an appearance.
Continuity notes
- This story seems to be set around the time of the Pax Cybertronia, with Maximals and Autobots working together, the Decepticons on the wane, and the Tripredacus Council on the rise. It could be in continuity with the other Timelines Beast-era stories (such as "The Razor's Edge", "Theft of the Golden Disk", and "Dawn of Future's Past"), as there are no direct contradictions. However, according to Fun Publications' Pete Sinclair, it is definitely not, and "Descent into Evil" stands alone.
- In early 2018, Jesse Wittenrich confirmed that the 2007 prose story "The Razor's Edge" was originally written as a sequel to this story [1][2] (and as a potential bridge between "Descent into Evil" and "Dawn of Future's Past"). Since that story was set before the Pax Cybertronia was signed, logically that would place this story even earlier.
- Additionally, Wittenrich would reveal that Sinclair's original decision to declare this story as a separate continuity from "Dawn of Future's Past" was done as part of a desire to make "Dawn" be the definitive Beast Wars prequel, with a clean start untied to any related fiction that could potentially interfere with the original backstory crafted by the Beast Wars cartoon's creators.[3]
- However, "Dawn" would later be folded into both the Wings Universe in 2014 and the IDW Beast Wars universe in 2016, negating Sinclair's original decision to keep "Dawn" so isolated and permitting it (as well as "The Razor's Edge" and "Theft of the Golden Disk") to also occupy this story's universe.
Transformers references
- The Autobots' ship is based off the Axalon, the ship of the Maximals from the Beast Wars cartoon.
- Chromia and Flareup previously encountered Buzzclaw on Regulon Four, a planet originally mentioned in The Transformers episode "The Rebirth, Part 2".
- Ironhide shouts "Leakin' lubricants!" after the Autobots are defeated by Deathsaurus, a euphemism used by him in The Transformers episode "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
- Buzzclaw calls Ratchet a scraplet, a species of metal-eating parasites introduced in the Marvel Comics The Transformers series.
- Bumblebee appears in his unreleased Alternators body at the end of this issue.
- Flamewar's new body was noted to be an Autobot body-type in her bio card; presumably, she used it to infiltrate the Autobots, as Bumblebee notes they've been trying to "flush her out" for a while.
Real-world references
- On the opening page, Flareup has a mug with the Hasbro logo on it. Behind her, the 1980's logo for Hasbro, seen at the end of Transformers toy commericals, is on the wall.
- Ceti Alpha Seven is presumably named after Ceti Alpha V, a planet from the 1982 science fiction film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Covers
- BotCon Edition Our heroes fight our villains, by Chris Appel.
References
External links
- Ben Yee's review of "Descent into Evil" (archived copy)