IDW - Transformers (2019) #8

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part Two

Written by: Brain Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova, Angel Hernandez & Beth McGuire-Smith

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Flamewar calls in to Shadow Striker, reporting that Cyclonus is ripping up their hidden cables, and despite Shadow Striker's orders to stand down, Flamewar decides to attack to stop him.

Inevitably, Cyclonus pummels the smaller bot, but the tides turn when Shadow Striker appears and starts firing on Cyclonus too. Cyclonus flies off, but Striker fires upon him, hitting the flyer, and Striker berates Flamewar for her stupidity.

Elsewhere, Megatron visits Termagax in her fortress, where he tells her about the recent bombing at an Ascenticon rally, but she has no interest in the outside world, and is busy building in her workshop. She says Megatron can just continue leading the Ascenticons, as she doesn't trust or believe in the Senate any more, so he leaves.

Outside, Megatron contacts Soundwave and tells him that she won't get in their way...

Back in the city, Bumblebee has been accepted into the Ascenticon Guard and Elita-1 informs him that Megatron wants him to be part of the guard for Megatron at an upcoming Senate meeting, so he can show off an ex-security officer and friend to Autobots has joined his side, which Bee seems fine with.

Meanwhile, at the Security HQ, Froid is being questioned by Chromia and Prowl about if Quake could be capable of murder, due to his well known anger issues and his recent disappearance. Froid agrees that he is likely to be capable of murder, but also that many more could be too, as their species is being repressed too much, and someone was bound to snap eventually.

At that moment, Cyclonus crashes into the wall, burying Froid in rubble, and hobbles in injured from the earlier attack. he tells Chromia that Shadow Striker attacked him, and where they are, before being allowed to go see Ratchet. Froid offers to join him, but Cyclonus flat out refuses. Froid calls out that he should talk to Paragon, confusing everyone else, to which Froid just explains that he's the one Cyclonus needs to talk to really, before leaving.

In the aftermath, Chromia tells Sideswipe to open up the armoury so they can go after Shadow Striker and the rest of her suspected Rise members, regardless of whether it's going to get them in trouble....

Characters

Security Forces/Autobot

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Sideswipe - Car

Froid - UAV

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Orion Pax - Truck (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Mentioned)

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Termagax

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Elita-1 - Car

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Other Ascenticons

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Skytread - Tank and Jet (Mentioned)

Refraktor - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned) Gone Missing

The Rise

Shadow Striker - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Grudge (Ghost)

Gridlock (Ghost)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Paragon (Mentioned)

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Pyra Magna (Mentioned)

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

The Missing Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Brainstorm's Killer (Mentioned)

Other

Primus (Mentioned)

Preserved Voin Corpse (In Termagax's Workshop)

Notes

• This issue comes with another packet of Transformers TCG cards, and again I got nothing good from it :(
• Art duties this month are split as such: Malkova does the Cyclonus vs Flamewar scene, Hernandez does the Megatron and Bumblebee scenes, and newcomer McGuire-Smith does the Security Forces scene at the end. Interestingly, I legitimately thought that was Andrew Griffith doing the final pages until I just checked the credits page....I am shocked!
• The first page of this issue takes place before Flamewar attacks Cyclonus last issue, giving us her side of the situation.
• From the dialogue this issue, we learn that Shadow Striker, and by extension Flamewar, were amongst the missing Cybertronians mentioned previously, and are part of The Rise, who have gone underground to hide.
• Shadow Striker mentions playing something called "Dead-Dark-Drone" with someone who's name begins with "Fr-". This could be anyone, but considering Froid's presence in the issue, and his history of being someone evil-ish, we might be able to assume this is him?
• Also, Shadow Striker is a mostly purple robot, which could be seen as bluish in the dark. Is she Brainstorm's killer?
• Shadow Striker's design is based on her Cyberverse counterpart, rather than her pre-existing G1 counterparts.
• Flamewar has hidden flamethrowers in her arms....this makes sense with her name!
• Grudge's ghost mentions how Shadow Striker and Flamewar have illegally good weapons, likely being a reference to the Nominus Edict that stops Cybertronians from having external weaponry.
• Dialogue also implies that Shadow Striker was in some way related to the war with the Threefold Spark to, since Gridlock and Cyclonus both recognise her.
• Oh...Termagax actually appears!! I'm not sure what she would turn into yet, but she does have a claw-like hand, which sort of looks like a satellite receiver when opened up (still a cool design though!)
• Termagax appears to have a collection of dead things or weapons...that's not ominous at all!
• Termagax name-drops Pyra Magna here, and asks if she's been "let out", maybe she's the one who Froid isn't allowed to visit in the jail?
• Oh! Sideswipe also makes an appearance for the first time (despite speaking before)
• And adding one more to the character appearances, on the cover preview for next issue, we finally get a look at Sentinel Prime, who seems to be based directly on his Titans Return toy

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #1

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

War rages on Cybertron, but seeing no way of winning, Optimus Prime leads his Autobots off the world and into space.

Normally, Megatron would have had his Decepticons chase the Autobots immediately to finish them off, but Gozer, the Traveler has arrived and informs the Decepticons that it intends to destroy their world. Megatron approaches to confront the destroyer, and it requests that he choose the form of the destructor, before he can though, Starscream, from behind accidentally has a thought of himself conquering Cybertron, giving Gozer it's new form.

Soon, a giant Starscream, in his emperor garb and wearing a necklace of his enemy's heads appears and attacks the planet, Megatron shoots Starscream for his stupidity and leads the Decepticons in battle against the monster, however they fail, and Gozer destroys the planet and all the Decepticons still on the world...

About a thousand years later, the Autobots are living on their ship, The Ark, when Ectronymous Diamatron detects a Cybertronian signal on a world called Earth, he informs Optimus, who agrees that this is intriguing, but he cannot send a team due to their limited resources and man-power, but does allow "Eck" to investigate it alone.

In Brooklyn, Earth, the Ghostbusters, a team of paranormal investigators and exterminators, look at their vehicle, the Ecto-1, which has been crashed into a large pot-hole in the road whilst on a job. As they leave to deal with the ghost, they don't see a sky-spy scan the Ecto-1 and a replica of it appears from the woods nearby.

At Prospect Park, the large squid-like ghost is lashing out at the Ghostbusters, but they manage to defeat it and trap it within one of their ghost traps and head bac towards the Ecto-1 to see if it can be repaired.

Whilst they are away, a pair of cops try to give the Ecto-1 a ticket for illegally parking on the grass, but it shoots the paper, burning it to ashes, leaving the cops to just leave it be...

Soon, the Ghostbusters return to Ecto-1, but are surprised to see two versions of it, one in the ditch, the other om the grass. Egon scans the area to see if there's something paranormal happening here, but gets some unusual readings.

Behind them, Starscream, now a ghost, appears and tells the Ghostbusters to leave, as he needs to speak with the Autobot, however the Ghostbusters simply shoot him with their proton packs and catch him within a trap.

Egon questions the strange readings, but Winston questions what the "Autobot" the robot ghost was looking for, when the Ecto-1 transforms and reveals itself to be Eck in disguise, shocking the Ghostbusters in the process! 

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime

Ectronymous Diamatron/Eck - Ecto-1

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Cliffjumper

Trailbreaker - Hover Van

Jazz - Hover Van

Wheeljack - Hover Van

Prowl

Ratchet

Ironhide

Brawn

Windcharger

Grapple

Jetfire (Imaginary Head on Starscream-Gozer Only)

Decepticon

Megatron Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Starscream - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer, Now a Ghost, Caught by Ghostbusters

Shockwave - Ray Gun Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Soundwave - Lamp Post Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Laserbeak - Cassette Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Thundercracker - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Skywarp - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Sunstorm - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Hot Link - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Reflector

Ghostbuster

Egon Spengler

Winston Zeddemore

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Other Human

Frank, the Cop

Tim, the Cop

Other

Gozer the Gozerian

Zuul

Vinz Clortho

Quintesson Ghost Ghost Captured by Ghostbusters

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This mini-series is to mark the 35th anniversary of both the Transformers and Ghostbusters franchises...it honestly never occurred to me that Ghostbusters was 35 too this year!
• The setting of this series is the Ghostbusters main comic continuity, which has had a slew of other crossovers in recent years, though in this case, the Transformers seem to be from the same universe as them (unless the Ark travelled through a wormhole or something between their leaving the doomed Cybertron and the modern day.
• The Transformers designs and their back-story appear to be based on their Sunbow counterparts, though with some major differences (like Cybertron and the Decepticons being destroyed) but most significantly to me, the Autobots only travel for about a thousand years before approaching Earth, making their leaving Cybertron a LOT later than in the cartoon.
• In keeping with the Cartoon aesthetic, the Cybertronians are shown with their Earth bodies and vehicle parts, despite them having Cybertronian modes (As such, I'll not mention alternate modes in the character list, unless they are known from the cartoon or the comic itself)
• The main Cybertronian character in this series is Ectronymous Diamatron which is the "real name" of the crossover toy "Ectotron" released as part of the crossover's promotions. I will most likely be calling him "Eck" or "Ectotron" in my reviews though, as those are less of a mouthful :D
• Gozer and it's minion's designs resemble the forms seen in the original Ghostbusters movie, but more robotic in nature (including a scaling up to make Gozer the same size as Megatron)
• Eck uses the explicit "By Primus!" here, something that would NEVER have been said in the cartoon
• Eck hypothesises that the signal he located on Earth could be from a lost Cybertronian colony. A concept seen in the past in Cybertron and IDW's first G1 continuity
• The ghost the Ghostbusters fight off first appears to be a Quintesson Prosecutor, given we also see some Quintesson Judge heads on Gozer's temple earlier in the issue, we can probably assume they Quintessa was attacked and destroyed by Gozer too
• Starscream being a ghost has been an ongoing theme since the third season of the original cartoon.

IDW - Clue Candlestick #2

Story/Art/Letters by: Dash Shaw

Production Design by: Neil Uyetake

Assistant Edits by: Megan Brown

Edits by: David Hedgecock

Plot

Miss Scarlet models for a few artists, but kills the artists after they complete the art, to make them more expensive pieces and to make herself more appealing.

Soon, Mr Boddy becomes aware of all of this, and becomes obsessed with Scarlet and starts collecting all pieces related to her.

After a while, Mrs Boddy becomes concerned with her husband's collections of macabre weapons and obsession with Miss Scarlet, but on the way to a party, she goes to a mechanic to fix her car and she is murdered by one of the mechanics.

Afterwards, Boddy starts to re-evaluate his life and sends out his invitations to his dinner guests.

After securing Mustard's body in the walk-in freezer, Boddy admits to Scarlet that he lied about the death threats against him, and that he wants to run away and start a new life with her. She's reluctant due to her past, and her not truly loving him like he seems to, and is distracted for long enough for the killer to smack Boddy in the back of the head with the lead pipe.

Mrs White, who is outside investigating the keys for the guests under the stone pieces, when Plum informs her of Boddy's murder. Everyone convenes in the Conservatory where they all agree to split up and wait in different rooms for the police to arrive.

Scarlet hides in the Study, and locks the door behind her, inside she finds a file of Boddy's, where he details how he has been covering up Scralet's murder spree and shows her that he truly loved her. However this revelation comes far too late, and she is attacked from behind by someone with the knife, stabbing her directly through the ribs and into the heart.

Soon, her death screams summon the rest of the guests and they seem to be getting fed up of the constant murders...but White believes she knows who the killer is!

Characters

The Dinner Party

Miss Scarlet Killed with the Knife

Mrs White

Professor Plum

Mr Green

Mrs Peacock

Mr Boddy Killed with the Lead Pipe 

Colonel Mustard Killed with the Revolver

Other People

Mrs Boddy (Flashback Only) Killed by Sam the Mechanic

Jay, the Painter (Flashback Only) Poisoned by Miss Scarlet

Beach Photographer (Flashback Only) Lured to be Eaten by Sharks by Miss Scarlet

Sculptor (Flashback Only) Crushed by Statue, Caused by Miss Scarlet

Sam, the Mechanic (Flashback Only)

Joe, the Mechanic (Flashback Only)

Pat, the Mechanic (Flashback Only)

Spy Photographer (Flashback Only)

Gallery Patrons (Flashback Only)

Beach-goers (Flashback Only)

Dr Orchid (Name on File)

Van Gogh (Mentioned)

The Virgin Mary (Mentioned)

The Police (Mentioned)

Notes

• The first fourteen pages of this comic are set before the events of the previous issue, with the following four happening during the events of the previous issue, with the last six being back to the present (though two pages are also "puzzle pages")
• Scarlet is revealed to be a serial killer in this issue, who kills artists to make their work (usually featuring her) worth more due to the artist's death. She hasn't been caught despite the clear pattern of her meeting them, and then dying, because Body has been protecting her.
• Scarlet is revealed to own a lot of cats...just further proof that they are evil animals!
• Mrs Boddy, mentioned last issue as having died, is revealed to have been murdered by a mechanic when she went to get the car checked out.
• The puzzle that you are supposed to use to determine which of the mechanics killed Mrs Boddy is designed to make you analyse every detail of the page, to help you notice some clues for the murder mystery of the story.
• Mrs White is revealed to have been the one who wrote Mr Boddy's letters to his dinner guests. Did she modify the message in some way?
• Boddy reveals that he hasn't received any death messages, he simply wanted to fake his own death to run away with Scarlet, and give his friends a parting gift in the process.
• Boddy mentions that he has done dreadful things too, akin to Scarlet's murders...was he involved in his wife's death in some way?
• The nonogram (my working out shown below this section) shows that Scarlet is in the Study, White is in the Hall, Green is in the Library, Peacock is in the Lounge and Plum is in the Kitchen
• Dr Orchid, another character from the Cluedo franchise, who was also a main character in the previous IDW Clue series, is referenced on  a book in the study.
• Scarlet isn't shown entering Heaven like Boddy and Mustard did last issue, this may be an oversight, except that she WAS a serial killer, and probably went to Clue Hell instead...
• So, from the nonogram, we can solve who is the killer...it is Professor Plum! He was hiding in the Kitchen, which according to the traditional Clue Board (which is requested by the writer to be used to solve the mystery) is connected by a secret passage to the Study, also his hiding place of the Kitchen is where Mustard's body is being held, meaning he could planet evidence on the body. Additionally Plum was in the Billiard Room alone at the end of the last issue, which is next to the Conservatory, which is where Boddy was killed. Also, he was next to the gun when Mustard was shot, despite the gun being in the chest before that.
• It seems that Peacock (with her still present house key, and general shadiness) and Green (being a Mobster and always nervous) are simply there to be red herrings in this story
• The next issue cover preview even shows Plum with the knife next to Scarlet...wow!
• The back cover features seven more of the Clue playing cards, this time for the Conservatory, Kitchen, Rope, Lead Pipe, Revolver, Wrench and Knife

Sig Pub - Transformers #45

Notes

• The screencap comic this month is of "Terminal Velocity"
• It's a bit of a missed opportunity to not have Blurr be the Battle of the Bots character this month, considering this issue showcases his death!
• The free gifts this month are a projectile watch weapon, a Hot Rod figure and an eraser in a condom looking package...weird....

Features

Play the Cube Game! - Destroy the cover to make a dice rolling counting game.

Have you got what it takes... - Do some Hot Rod themed puzzles

Battle of the Bots - Hot Rod vs Acid Storm profiles

Colour in the Seekers - Do what it says on the tin!

Memory Test - Complete a quiz about the comic this month

Get Set for an Epic Ride! - Play a road-maze!

Mini Posters - Hot Rod and Windbladce mini-posters in the middle of the magazine

Bot Recap- Play a memory game about the Cyberverse characters

Slipstream Search- Do a wordsearch

Create your own Bumblebee Story! - Do your own story using existing screencaps

Looking for a Hero?  - Colour in an Optimus picture

Transformers Competitions- Enter contests for some Transformers toys

Wanted! - Identify a character based on some clues

Transformers Post - Judge the human children's artistic skills!

Mission Accomplished!- Colour in a Thundercracker jet picture, and find a hidden message

IDW - Transformers (2019) #7

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part One

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez, Andrew Griffith & Anna Malkova

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Prowl and Chromia meet with Greenlight and Ratchet in the medical center, where they confirm that the Voin and Rubble were both killed via blunt force, rather than gunshots like Brainstorm was, meaning that there is likely two killers on the loose, rather than just one, as they were hoping.

Chromia tells Prowl that it's not his fault, but Prowl feels bad for not being able to find the Voin himself, and for not being able to help Rubble when he called for help, and he vows to solve this case.

Elsewhere, Bee is mourning for the death of his charge and Windblade reassures him that he isn't to blame for this.

Orion comes to see him, but Bee doesn't want to talk to him right now and leaves. Orion offers his condolences for Rubble's death and leaves him be. Soon, Ironhide contacts him to let him know that following the newest deaths, the colony tours has been called off, and Sentinel and his crew are returning to Cybertron via the spacebridge, which Orion was expecting...

Bee heads to the Ascenticon HQ where Elita is shocked to see him, following his recent loss. Bee explains that he wants to join now more than ever, to make the world safer, and also says that Soundwave told him that the rest of the crew can decide if he joins or not. 

Skytread and Refraktor aren't impressed, and try to push him around due to him only being a scout, and being chucked out of the security forces in the past, but when Skytread points out that Bee coulsn't even keep his charge alive, Bee snaps and takes down Skytread and Refraktor with relative ease. Elita puts an end to the fight and Bee notices that Quake wasn't there too...

Meanwhile, at the memorial crater, Cyclonus stands watch, in case Exarchon and the Threefold Spark ever return, and continues to be haunted by the ghosts (or delusions) of his old friends. Cyclonus notices a new wire in the land around the memorial and decides to tear it out, considering it disrespectful, when he is attacked by Flamewar, who silently opens fire on him. Cyclonus tries to escape in jet mode, but is shot down.

Pissed at being forcibly grounded twice recently, he openly challenges Flamewar to a fight..

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces

Orion Pax - Truck

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Ironhide - Van (Hologram)

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Sentinel Prime (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Elita-1 - Car

Skytread - Tank and Jet

Refraktor

Soundwave (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Ratchet - Ambulance

Greenlight - Car

Cyclonus - Jet

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Cybertronian Pedestrians

Rubble (Body) Killed by Quake

Gridlock (Ghost)

Highfire (Ghost)

Grudge (Ghost)

Provoke (Ghost)

Primus (Mentioned)

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Nautica - Submarine (Mentioned)

Perceptor (Mentioned)

Arcee - Car (Mentioned)

Arcee's Charge (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Exarchon (Mentioned)

The Threefold Spark (Mentioned)

Other Species

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Body) Killed by Quake 

Notes

• Well this issue confirms it! Rubble was indeed killed in issue five. I am so glad they haven't given him a hand-waved save, thus negating the whole concept of death in the continuity from the onset :D
• This issue's art duties are divided up as follows: Hernandez does the Bumblebee scenes, Griffith does the Prowl and Orion Pax scenes, and Malkova finishes it off with the Cyclonus scene at the end.
• This issue comes with a free booster pack of the Wave One Transformers TCG. Mine didn't have anything too good in it unfortunately :( Also, the advert on the cover is kind of irritating...
• Greenlight is revealed to be a Xenobiologist (ie an alien specialist), the name of her and Arcee's new charge is still not known however...curious...
• Orion starts to suggest something to Bee in this issue, which he ignores and proceeds to the Ascenticon HQ, further adding to the idea that he is joining them as a ruse for Orion and the Senate. 
• Nautica and Starscream are mentioned as being part of Sentinel Prime's crew, possibly meaning they are also Senators, or at least high ranking individuals
• This issue gives our first proper mention of Spacebridges in this new continuity.
• Elita-1 is very different from her previous IDW self, with this one seeming to be more in line with her G1 cartoon self, as a protective and caring personality, but still a strong warrior who commands respect.
• Oh wow! It's Flamewar! We haven't seen her since her brief cameo in the TAAO Annual! Looks like she still has her motorcycle mode too! (NOW GIVE US A DECENT TOY FOR HER ALREADY HASBRO!!)
• Cyclonus mentions that this was his second forced landing, referring to the one he suffered at Windblade's hands in issue four.

IDW - Transformers (2019) #6

Title: Orion Pax: Free Fall

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Beth McGuire-Smith

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Orion Pax comes to meet with Codexa, to try and speak with her about something he plans to do, but she, having become part of Cybertron, is having a hard time concentrating, but remembers Orion, but also Megatron, remembering that they were friends..

Orion remembers back to two megacycles earlier, following the war with the Threefold Spark, that he helped Megatron trying to recover a buried statue of their creator god, Primus, when a hover trailer loses control and almost bashes into them. Megatron controls the crash, whilst Orion keeps hold of Primus, and the two work together to keep it all together...

A long time later, the Winged Moon is completed, and Orion bumps into Megatron there, where Orion asks him why he didn't tell him that he was running for a senatorial position, especially for a controversial party like the Ascenticons. Megatron in turn questions Orion's allegiance to the Autobots, and they head into the Tether to go back to the surface. On the way down, Orion says that he is going to leave planet for a while to explore the colonies before taking Codexa's place as head archivist, which leads Megatron to manually turn off the elevator and leaves it, encouraging Orion to join him in the atmosphere.

The two admire the view of their homeworld from afar, and Megatron hads his friend a levitator, and leads him to join him in freefalling from the sky to Cybertron's surface.

Megatron's levitator works, but Orion's fails for him, and he falls to the surface, luckily landing in a lagoon, relatively unharmed. Megatron is happy and asks if Orion's spark is running faster and brighter from the fun, but Orion wonders if Megatron is a bit mad, which offends his old friend, and tells Orion to leave for his journey through the stars, as he'll be here, where the future will be built up...

Codexa finishes remembering about Megatron and Orion Pax, comparing Megatron to Exarchon, the one who led the Threefold Spark, which Orion doesn't want to believe. 

Orion asks for permission to do something that could get someone hurt, and could be seen as a small betrayal to others, to which Codexa remembers that Orion was always so formal, and never let himself be, and hid his true feelings...seemingly leading Orion to his decision....

Characters

Autobot

Orion Pax - Truck

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Termagax (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Codexa Immersant with Cybertron

Winged Moon Construction Crew (Flashback Only)

Post War Repair Crews (Flashback Only)

Primus (Statue Only)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Constructicons (Mentioned)

Exarchon (Mentioned)

The Threefold Spark (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue follows the end of issue 3 of the series, where Orion starts his conversation with Codexa (why this story was released 3 issues later is anyone's guess though, since this story doesn't seem to indicate any of the plot from issues 4 and 5 though)
• This is the first issue of the new continuity to use only one artist throughout all the different story locations/threads. ALSO, it is a new artist to the series!
• This issue gives us a big dose of Cybertronian measurements of time, so I decided to ask the writer if he could confirm what the dates would translate as by our standards. A cycle is a day, but is shorter than an Earth day, a Kilocycle would be a Cybertronian year, but as the name suggests is actually around 1000 Cycles long, and a Megacycle is a millennium, or 1000(ish) Megacycles. Answer here
• The issue begins with an abbreviated version of the Nominus Edict, which, as could be surmised from the previous issues mainly covers the restriction of Energon, the founding of new colonies and birth of new Cybertronians. It also states that non integral weapons are banned on Cybertron....so...how did Quake use his massive cannon last issue?
• Nominus Prime is also confirmed to be an Autobot, and the former head of the Autobot party, before Sentinel, who is the current one.
• Due to the rebuilding process and general destruction, we can assume that the war with the Threefold Spark ended about 2000 Cybertronian years ago (from the context of the "present" being the main setting of the series, and not the real world present day), which would be approximately 6000 Earth years in the past.
• We learn here that Megatron was a miner, and gladiator before his senatorial position, and Orion was an archivist. Both being the roles held by the characters in the Aligned continuity (Megatron was also a miner in IDWv1, and Orion was an archivist in Dreamwave, but as Optronix)
• The statue of Primus briefly seen being rescued by Orion and Megatron is based on his mythical appearance in IDWv1, well at least from the head, which is all we've seen so far!
• The winged moon of Termagax was pretty much complete about 300 Kilocycles ago, which would be about 900 Earth years before the "present"
• So it turns out that Codexa wasn't a Senator, like I assumed she was, but she was Orion's mentor and the head archivist before going "Immersant" (aka melding into Cybertron)
• From his request to get permission to do something that could endanger someone else, it seems likely that Orion asked Bumblebee to go undercover with the Ascenticons, as we saw him trying to join them last issue.
• We learn a bit more about the Threefold Spark, it was led, or was influenced by someone called "Exarchon"...wonder if we'll see him in some way soon? :D

Sig Pub - Transformers #44

Notes

• This month's screen-cap comics are of the episodes "Sabotage" and "Teletraan-X"
• The "Search and Find" game uses a screen-cap from the comic from LAST MONTH'S issue...this is irksome...
• According to the Signature Move quiz, my move is "Smart Twist"...interesting!
• There's no comic quiz this month! How are they going to test if we skim over the comic again!
• The free gifts this month are a packet of stickers, a projectile launcher (disguised as a flip phone) and the final pack of fun fact cards
• As I assumed last month, this month's pack gave us the last of the 20 cards for the set :)

• I forgot to mention last month, one of the cards I got in the packet was of Drift! We haven't seen his character model in Cyberverse yet! (Only Deadlock) So...that was cool!

Features

Cyberverse Rewind! - Do a crossword of words relating to Windblade and her Earth mission!

Colour in Bee! - Take a guess...

Battle of the Bots - Wheeljack vs Thundercracker profiles!

Search and Find - Locate a bunch of hidden items in a picture

Bumblebee's Tricky Tasks! - Do some Bumblebee related puzzles!

Cyberverse Race! - Play a maze-game with some counters!

Decepticon Sudoku - Play Sudoku with some Decepticon pictures instead of numbers!

Colour in the Autobots! - Colour in a picture of four Autobots!

Transformers Competitions- Enter a contest to win some larger Cyberverse toys!

Signature Move Match- Match an ability to a bot. Also do a quiz to find your own!

Transformers Post - See what pictures the tiny humans have sent in

Solve the Quest! - Find a hidden message throughout the magazine (also colour in Optimus)