IDW - Transformers (2019) #9

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part 3
Written by: Brian Ruckley
Art by: Angel Hernandez & Anna Malkova
Colours by: Joana LaFuente
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Chromia, Windblade and Sideswipe head to the memorial, where they locate the entrance to the hidden base, once there, Chromia contacts Geomotus, who confirms her theory that the micro-fissures he found during their earlier mission had to be caused by mining, confirming to her that the base was built recently. Chromia bemoans that Barricade isn't responding to her calls and that they have to do this mission without him. The trio arm up with weapons with the armoury and head inside, with Sideswipe standing guard outside...

Elsewhere, Prowl tracks down one of his black market contacts, Headlock, and threatens him to give him all the information he has on the Voin and the recent killings, to which he admits that he's already given all the information he has to Barricade, who came to see him on "behalf" of Security...much to Prowl's surprise.

In the Rise base, the team are detected by Sixshot, Flamewar and Shadow Striker, who are the only members left after the evacuation, and Sixshot bemoans their actions that led Security straight to them.

Whilst exploring the base, Chromia and Windblade find a lot of supplies and equipment, but Chromia gets excited when she sees some Energon stations that haven't had their monitors disabled, so if they use a detector they can discover everyone who has used them! Windblade runs off to get the detector, leaving Chromia alone with the stations, unaware that Sixshot has arrived behind her...

At Ascenticon HQ, Bee is shocked to see the line of potential Ascenticon Guard members, and is surprised to see Barricade has been allowed to try out, despite him being current Security, which he waves off as him just having more to "offer" than Bee did...

Back outside the Rise base, Windblade grabs the detector and rushes back inside, when alone, Sideswipe is attacked by Flamewar.

Inside, Chromia and Sixshot fight it out, and Sixshot appears to be winning, until Windblade arrives and skewers her sword through his chest. Sixshot runs off, with the sword still in his chest, but throws a grenade to slow down the Securities. Chromia gives chase, whilst Windblade attached the detector, and they hear Shadow Striker on the intercom saying to escape before the "boom".

Shadow Striker and Sixshot escape, and Flamewar, seeing them leave, drives off as well, leaving Sideswipe alive behind her.

Chromia gets outside, but is shocked that Windblade hasn't escaped yet, just as the Rise base explodes, destroying the monument and Windblade's broken body is thrown miles away from the site.

Characters

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet Caught in Rise HQ Explosion, Thrown Miles away

Sideswipe - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Defecting to Ascenticons)

Security Trainees (Mentioned)

The Rise

Sixshot - Jet 

Shadow Striker - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

The Rise Commander (Mentioned)

Other Risers (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Elita-1 - Car

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Headlock

Ascenticon Potential Recruits

Geomotus - Radar Mounted Rover (Hologram Only)

Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Landmine (Mentioned)

The Missing Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Other

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Despite the main cover, and the solicits for the issue, Sentinel, Starscream Nautica, Orion Pax and Hound do not appear in this issue at all. At least Bumblebee has a page of content though I guess...
• Geomotus mentions a co-worker of his being named Landmine. Since this is a G1 series, we should assume this is the G1 character of the same name, but this series has had a fair few surprises so far, so maybe this is another version!
• Prowl mentioned that he was going to be looking into his black market contacts, just before Rubble died, implying that this is how Quake learned about the Voin Scavenger and went out to look for him.
• Shadow Striker outright names her group "Risers", pretty much confirming that they are the Rise, and not Ascenticons (unless the groups are connected like I originally believed)
• Oh hey! Sixshot is back! Let's hope he doesn't get lobotomized again this time!
• Also, we only see Sixshot in his jet alternate mode, so we don't know if he's a six-changer yet or not (though, based on the wheels on his shoulders, he most likely also turns into a car as well)
• Barricade getting information from Headlock about the Voin, and being instantly admitted into the Ascenticons instead of going through barriers like Bee had to would imply that he's been a mole for Soundwave for a while within the Security Forces, and likely gave them the information that led to the Voin and Rubble being killed by Quake.
• Sideswipe's Thermal Lance seems to be designed after the Decepticon Hunter used by his RID2015 counterpart.

FBF - To The Death #1

Title: Another World, Another War

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Design by: Amazing15

Printed by: Mixiam

Plot

On Corcaran Prime, a world 4.7 million light years from Earth, Aleksy Dryagin leads his Pacifier squad in slaughtering the planet's residents, then calls in for the world to be harvested for it's raw materials, afterwards the harvest is shipped back to Earth, and the Pacifiers enter cryo-sleep, before heading home too...

Meanwhile, on Earth, Dryagin's wife, Lena, is working on the family's genetically modified produce farm on the Western Super-Continent, where she finds that her solar zeppelins aren't reaching beyond the pollution layer in the sky to get natural sunlight, so the crops are starting to die off...

Later, the Firedrake, the Pacifier's ship arrives in the Terra-Prima system, where they are prematurely released from their cryo-sleep. They don't detect any problems that would have released them early, but decide to take this opportunity to get refreshed and ready for home a little early, so they head to the showers, get food and generally spruce themselves up.

On Earth's Eastern Super-Continent, at the top of the Hub Tri-Corp cloudscraper, the Triumvirate of Veni, Vidi and Vici watch over the footage of Dryagin's team on their recent mission, and determine that he is too popular due to this being his second successful tour of duty, and they are concerned with his growing fanbase on Earth. The trio decide in unison to "terminate" his contract, before sending out a message...

Back at the Dryagin Ranch, Lena is told by her son that Aleksy is calling from the Firedrake and wants to talk to them.

Lena comes in and talks with her husband over a holographic communicator and tells him about her issues with the lack of resources to keep their farm running, to which he says he's sorted it with the money he has earned for them with the missions, the two start to talk about getting back together properly when another of his team come in saying he's needed on the ship. Aleksy ends the call, much to his wife's annoyance.

Aleksy heads to the bridge, where he sees a bunch of Erath vessels approaching them, refusing to answer their hails, and they start attacking the Firedrake. The Firedrake, being a military vessel, and it's enemies, being commercial ships and the such, is able to easily shoot them down, crippling their engines. The team are concerned about what this means, but decide to continue on to Earth regardless.

Later at the Mercy Spaceport on the Eastern Super-Continent, the crowds have gathered, and everyone is excited for the return of the Firedrake and Aleksy Dryagin, but unknown to most, a sniper is waiting, aiming at the port..

Meanwhile, a pair of aircraft fly over the Dryagin Ranch and deploy some explosives inside it, destroying the whole facility....

Characters

Pacifier

Aleksy Dryagin/Komodo

Diamond Bill

Bette Larssen

Hash Flynn Eye Injured on Corcoran
Huey

Umber

Leone

Kraken

"Moustache Guy"

Other Pacifiers (Mentioned)

Triumvirate

Veni

Vidi

Vici

Other Human

Lena Dryagin

Leo Dryagin

Aleksy's Fans

Mercy Spaceport Security Guards

The Sniper

Other

Lupex (Leo's Striped Pet Dog)

Corcoran Prime's Population Slaughtered by Dryagin's Team

Notes

• This is Simon Furman's new comic series, Furman's famous for his Transformers and Death's Head work, so I figured it would be a fun read :D
• This issue did come out a couple weeks ago, but I've been a bit busy recently with trips and other things, so I'm a bit behind on this one, sorry!
• Though this is issue 1, there is a special issue 0 prequel issue that is available to subscribers and at conventions. I'll try to get one at TFN in August, so don't worry (this may mean some things I question in this review have been explained there, but I don't know yet)
• This story is set in the year 2674 AD, and from what we see it seems that Earth has lost it's own natural resources (aside from solar polar) and has a massive pollution problem (we see there are normal clouds above the dark ones).
• The Pacifiers are a military force that invades other planets so they can use their natural resources to power the Earth. It also appears that they are televised for entertainment back on Earth, most likely to keep people from feeling too bad about their situation in some way.
• One of the Pacifiers is unnamed in this issue, the muscular moustached man, unless I missed his name somewhere anyway.
• Lena mentions that they teach gaming in schools by this point in history, most likely this is to help with hand-eye-coordination to try and teach kids to become soldiers in the future or something...honestly I'm shocked it apparently took over 600 years to do this!
• It's likely that Lena, Leo and Lupex were killed when the Dryagin Ranch is destroyed, but I won't add them to the list as dead unless it is confirmed

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