Panini - Armada #2

Cover Date: 18th June 2003

Price: £1.75

Title: Friends and Foes!

Story: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Bambos Georgiou

Colours: Junior Tomlin

Lettering: Neil Porter

Plot

Optimus continues his assault on Optimus on Earth, but is easily able to defeat him, the other Decepticons arrive soon afterwards, and are immediately ordered to search for the Mini-Cons.

Nearby, the Humans and Mini-Cons are hiding, but Rad gets restless, and points out that the Mini-Cons can't just live their lives in fear of the war, and some times you need to fight for your lives, and not just hide away.

Elsewhere, Megatron asks the injured Optimus where the rest of his troops are, but soon deduces that they are on the Moon, since the signal bounced off of it, due to another transmitter there, meaning there's more Mini-Cons or their ship at least up there.

Rad appears on a hill above them, and tries to bargain for Optimus' life for the location of the Mini-Con ship, Megatron grabs Rad and orders him to locate it for him. Whilst this is happening, Carlos sneaks into the cave, to investigate the ship for more Mini-Cons himself.

Rad is rescued from Megatron by the Mini-Cons, who have decided that Rad was right, and they need to help the Autobots if they want to survive.

Despite the help though, the Mini-Cons aren't strong enough to take down a full sized Decepticon, but luckily Optimus activates a device that summons Hot Shot and Red Alert to the battlefield to join the fight. The Mini-Cons pair up with the Autobots, and lend them their power, allowing them to tip the scales against the Decepticons and win the fight. The Decepticons retreat.

In the aftermath, Optimus thanks the humans for their help, and Carlos leaves the cave and says he's found a load of Mini-Cons and other things inside.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Red Alert - Emergency SUV

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Cyclonus - Helicopter

Demolishor - Battle Tank

Mini-Con

Sparkplug - Sports Car

Longarm - Crane

Jolt - Helicopter

High Wire - BMX

Sureshock - Scooter

Grindor - Skateboard

Leader-1 - Cannon Truck

Human

Rad White

Carlos Lopez

Alexis

Notes

• Hey look! Demolishor's found himself into the comic! Where have you been? Tell me your stories friend!
• Megatron's plan was to SHOOT at Rad, and THEN ask him to take him to the Mini-Con ship.....this is his first encounter with Humans, how did he know shooting near him wouldn't pop his bubble skin or something?!
• Optimus has a hand held space bridge activation controller.....WHY DON'T WE SEE THIS AGAIN!?!?
• Despite them powerlinking, and this being the whole gimmick for the Armada line, we never see the effects of Mini-Cons being connected to the Transformers, such as the pop-out weapons etc.
• Carlos mentions that he's found more Mini-Cons in the crashed ship, but as we see next issue all he found was an empty ship, and a Mini-con tracker, which he would have no way to identify!
• In this issue and the previous one, Alexis has a bare minimal role...I think someone forgot she existed!

Other Features

Various Contests and Adverts

Screen Scramble! - Unscramble an image of Optimus

Data File #3: Megatron

Incoming Fire! - Colour in a picture of the Autobots being shot

Hot Pursuit! - Pull out poster of the Decepticons chasing Hot Shot

Grid-Locked! - Solve a message from the Decepticons

Cruel Intentions? - Follow the arrows to see what faction you belong on (Mine was Decepticon)

Data File #4: Leader-1

Motorway Mayhem! - Guide Red Alert to the Autobot Base

Hot Shot's Hot Mail! - Hot Shot reads the mail!