IDW - Spotlight Thundercracker

Title: The Hunting Party

Story by: John Barber

Art by: Chee

Colours by: Ronda Pattison

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assistant: Thomas Boeing

Editor: Carlos Guzman 

Plot

Thundercracker leads a team looking for Metroplex on Megatron's orders (as he was present during the capture of Orion Pax and Alpha Trion, who discussed the Titan). Blitzwing gets annoyed with the mission, saying that this wasn't why he joined the Decepticons, afterwards Thundercracker finds a piece of metal he believes was part of Metroplex at some point and smuggles it back on Bludgeon's ship.

On the ship Thundercracker scans the metal chunk and detects a similar signature found on it on a planet not that far away. Thundercracker tells Bludgeon that he has a hunch about the system due to it being similar to the one they're in at the moment, but doesn't mention the metal chunk, but he's not sure why.

A group of Autobots (Bumblebee, Jetfire and Nightbeat) are following Bludgeon's ship when it quantum jumps, the Autobots follow. A few days later the Decepticons reach the planet and find a small organic colony in an area with strong Energon substitute readings in the area, Thundercracker suggests avoiding the organics, but Bludgeon wants to go through them and kill them all. The Autobots arrive as well and decided to take on the Decepticons to stop them from killing the organics below (as they detected them too).

The battle on the organics begins, but Thundercracker just tries to scare them off, rather than killing them unlike the others. Thundercracker decides to just go look for Metroplex instead. The Autobots attack, and launch their small shuttle into Bludgeon's shuttle, Bludgeon decides to abandon his shuttle, and leaves the non-fliers in his crew to die. Bumblebee follows Thundercracker down a tunnel, which is noticed by some of the organics, whilst the Autobots and Decepticons fight.

Down below Thundercracker finds Metroplex absorbing the Energon alternative in the caverns to recover energy and Bumblebee appears and the two start to fight. Bumblebee is defended by one of the organics during the fight, and then Bumblebee defends the organic from Thundercracker in turn, Thundercracker suddenly realizes why he didn't tell Bludgeon the whole truth, he doesn't want the Decepticons as they are right now to have the power of Metroplex, so he reports to Bludgeon that Metroplex isn't there and that they should leave.

Thundercracker leaves Bumblebee and the organic alive, and wonders about if all Autobots are the same, as he leaves he causes damage to the cavern causing a wave of the energon onto Metroplex, fully charging him. Metroplex wakes up and teleports away due to his secret mission. Bumblebee returns to the surface to find the Decepticons gone and the team settle down, as they are stranded for the meanwhile.

As the remaining Decepticons fly off Bludgeon says he's sending Thundercracker back to the front lines for his failure today, whilst the rest continue their search for Metroplex, and Thundercracker is happy...for now.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Car

Nightbeat - Car

Jetfire - Jet

Metroplex - City/Ship

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (Flashback)

Alpha Trion (Flashback)

Decepticon

Bludgeon - Flying Tank/Tank

Thundercracker - Jet

Blitzwing - Jet/Tank

Waspinator - Wasp Killed or Disabled by Autobots

Barrage - Rhinoceros Beetle Killed or Disabled by Bumblebee

Chop Shop - Stag Beetle

Venom - Cicada

Guardminder Drones Killed in Ship destruction

3 more Jets

Megatron (Mentioned)

Seekers (Mentioned)

DJD (Mentioned)

Other

Urtuskians

Metrotitans - Cities/Ships (Flashback)

Primus (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Nibarians (Mentioned)

Notes

• I hope that Nightbeat's appearances in 3 past stories in a row (Shadowplay, Orion Pax and here) is an indicator of him coming back in the present
• Hey look! Waspinator's an Insecticon here...then he looks a bit dead...though knowing Waspie I'd bet it's not permanent
• Waspinator seems to be in his Transmetal body but in his organic colours
• Thundercracker has an odd mix of his Cybertronian and F15 Earth modes in this story
• Metroplex disappeared shortly after becoming Autobot HQ in Autocracy...kinda seems like an empty gesture from him now huh?
• The DJD exist THIS early in the war?? It's been a couple of years!!!
• Bumblebee's basically in his Robots in Disguise body here, and Jetfire's in his Classics body (also how he appeared in early IDW comics as well)
• Thundercracker's future "betrayal" of the Decepticons is hinted at here
• Why does Thundercracker have a seat in his cockpit? I could understand if he scanned an alien jet for this mode, but it doesn't seem that way...so why?
• Apparently Bumblebee keeps making friends on missions, which seems to be annoying Nightbeat a bit
• Metroplex leaves for his mission, which is implied to have begun by this early point in the timeline
• I guess Bludgeon and the others don't continue their mission for very long or succeed, as Bludgeon is doing his own stuff by about 1985ish and Metroplex is still in hiding and on the run for his mission by 2007 (and present I guess)