Choose Me
From Transformers Wiki
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 "Then he got an idea. An awful idea. Starscream got a wonderful, awful idea." | |||||||||||||
| "Choose Me" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | The Transformers Holiday Special | ||||||||||||
| First published | December 23, 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | December, 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Mairghread Scott | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Corin Howell | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Tom B. Long | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 2005 IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Current era | ||||||||||||
Grinchy about not getting his way
Starscream declares a new holiday!
Contents |
Synopsis
Spirits are high on Cybertron as Transformers from the various colonies return to their ancestral homeworld, and new friendships are forged. The only 'bot unhappy with all of this is Starscream, still largely unliked by the population and left out of the goodwill. Struck with inspiration after another conversation with the imaginary/dead Bumblebee, he decides to declare a new holiday, "Chosen One Day", filled with joy and gift-giving—all to be directed at Starscream, of course. Rattrap takes a recording of this declaration speech to Circuit and Longtooth at the Iacon news serves, but unfortunately, the half-asleep Longtooth accidentally cuts off the end of the broadcast, leaving out the part where Starscream is the one who is supposed to receive gifts and praise.
Consequently, all the Cybertronians and colonists get really into the joyous spirit of the day and give each other presents and well-wishes (with Sparkstalker even asking Lightbright to be his Conjunx Endura!) while Starscream is left to stew alone in his tower. As night settles in, however, there comes a knock at Starscream's door—Wheeljack has come to visit, and he has brought, Ironhide, Blurr, Windblade, and all the other ambassadors from the Council of Worlds, who fill the room with decorations and drinks. Wheeljack gives a toast: in honor of his "selflessly" declaring Chosen One Day, the group has decided to give Starscream the gift of their friendship... even if it's just for tonight!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"You heard it right here, folks! A new holiday!
Show someone close to you why they're okay.
Be they co-worker, friend, or Conjunx Endura
Show why you care with august bravura!"
- —Circuit (that last one's definitely a word, the footnote assures us)
"But all of the other 'bots loved the news
Both of the Tankors got matching tattoos.
Knock Out and his Conjunx went on vacation,
And Slug took a moment to praise Blurr's vocation.
Windblade thanked Chromia for saving her life,
And Lightbright agreed to be Sparkstalker's wife!
Elita's soldiers threw her a parade...
...and his teammates bought Onslaught a brand new grenade!
Yes, everyone was in the spirit of giving,
Happy to still be among the living.
And everone got into the spirit of fun
Well, everyone... except one."
"And true to their word, Starscream was given
All of the love for which he had striven.
And they say that his spark, it shone so bright,
He swore not to destroy them... at least, not tonight."
Notes
Continuity notes
- Waspinator is shown enjoying a wallow in a pool of energon; presumably, this is one of Metroplex's waste pools, which he was shown to enjoy visiting in the first Windblade series.
- We finally get to see a full-body depiction of Knock Out's Conjunx, who is—as expected—an IDW version of Prime Breakdown.
Transformers references
- The Devisen pair who appear on page 1 seem to be colored in homage to the Micromaster Combiner Astro Squad members Heave and Barrage.
- The Velocitronian on page 1 shares a body-type with Racemaster from Windblade vol. 2 #5 with a yellow coloration similar to movie Bumblebee or Prime Bumblebee.
- One of the gift-givers Starscream envisions seems to have a color scheme based on Nightbeat.
- Among the celebrating Badgeless is a Transformer based on a Prime Vehicon; these 'bots are "happy to be among the living", a joke based on the short life expectancy of the average Vehicon in the Prime cartoon.
Real-life references
- The cityscape on the very first panel seems evocative of a big, mischievously smiley face complete with mustache, for some reason.
- It goes without saying, of course, but this story is an homage to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, with Starscream standing in for the titular character and Rattrap playing the role of the Grinch's dog Max.
- One of the (presumably Eukarian) colonists seen on page 1 is colored to evoke a My Little Pony, complete with a cutie mark.
- The spectral form of Bumblebee, who normally appears in The Transformers looking no different than he did in life, is here rendered as a much more cartoonish ghost, bound in chains and lock-boxes in references to the ghost of Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol.
- Starscream's recording is on a VHS cassette.
Errors
- Longtooth's name is misspelled "Longthooth".
- Slug's helmet is black instead of red.
- The narration says Blurr comes in behind Windblade and Rattrap, but the art has him coming in ahead of them. Perhaps he was so fast he overtook them the moment the narrator finished?
- Conjunx Endura is consistently misspelled as "Conjux" Endura throughout.
