FBF - To The Death #4

Title: The Kill-Zone

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in UK by: Mixam

Plot

At the Luna-5 facility, Dryagin holds a meeting with his crew to decide what to do with the captured insurgents, either take them to Earth to be executed for trying to stand up against a corrupt system, or release them and risk being martyred themselves. They can't come to an agreement, but Bill detects a large heat signature in the prisoner's holding area. The team realise that Kraken isn't with them, and rush off towards the section.

On Earth, the Triumvirate are concerned that their new asset, Kraken, might not be able to deal with Dryagin himself, due to his war-record, so they decide to summon another asset to help him, Killatoa...

Back on Luna-5, the team confront Kraken, who admits to incinerating the insurgents and relieves Dryagin of his command, attacking him, revealing that he has been placed in charge of the team now. Leone attacks Kraken, and holds him at knife-point, giving Dryagin the chance to escape into the snowy landscape outside.

Kraken is quickly freed, and has Leone imprisoned, whilst he chases after Dryagin, managing to injure him in the process...

The White Noice Tac-team approach the Moon, where King receives a message from Snow, saying that Dryagin may be in trouble, and he begins to worry that they may to too late to rescue and recruit him to their cause...

On Earth, Deacon Snow, who is monitoring both situations activates two sleeper agents, so they can cause a distraction on Earth, giving King a little more time to rescue Dryagin

At Luna-5 again, Dryagin reaches a motorpool, but is caught by Kraken, who starts destroying the vehicles there. The rest of the team arrive, but aren't willing to intervene, they know Kraken is now technically the team leader, but they can't bring themselves to turn against Dryagin.

Larssen is having trouble figuring out what to do, even through the rest of the team appear to be willing to follow Kraken if they have to, and even imply that Leone is at risk now too for turning against Kraken earlier, to Larssen's distress.

The two "leaders" fight it out, with Dryagin managing to pin Kraken into some machinery, and getting into an exo-driller, and tries to put him down, however he gets distracted when Kraken lets it slip that the Triumvirate have had his family killed.

The remaining Cyber warriors arrive to try surround Dryagin and finish him off, however the air around them suddenly turns white, and only Dryagin can move within it!

Diamond Bill, aboard the Firedrake, uses the tractor beam on the area, freezing everyone in place, but allows Dryagin to escape, having left a quad and a med-kit outside the perimeter, and wishes Dryagin luck as he is allowed to escape from his usurper...  

Characters

Pacifiers

Aleksy Dryagin On the Run, due to Betrayal 

Josiah Kraken

Leone Imprisoned by Rest of Team, on Kraken's Orders

Diamond Bill

Bette Larssen

Dolan Rekt

Jonas Huey

Hash Flynn

Megan Umber

White Noise

Deacon Snow

Juddh King

Mazur

Other Tac-Team Members

Abducted Spaceport Flight Technician

Bar Patron Sleepwalker

Scavenger Sleepwalker

Triumvirate

Vidi

Vici

Veni

Other

Brood-Class Vyber Warrior Operator #1

Brood-Class Vyber Warrior Operator #2

Lena Dryagin (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead, Abducted by White Noise

Leo Dryagin (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead, Abducted by White Noise

Killatoa (Mentioned)

Luna-5 Insurgents (Mentioned) Most Killed by Kraken

Notes

• The start of this issue is actually the middle of the story, so rather than jumping around, I just put it in linear order in the above Plot section.
• For the first time, neither Lena or Leo Dryagin appear in an issue, though both are mentioned a couple of times.
• Larssen has joined the ground team on the Moon now, either she was with them from the start, and just stayed out of sight last issue, or she joined them after the fighting ended, leaving Bill alone on the ship.
• Killatoa finally gets a mention this issue, he is the monster-looking character who appeared on the cover to issue one, who was also announced as a main character in the pitches...nice to see him appear (or at least get mentioned anyway) after just four issues (five if you include the prequel story)
• Kraken is revealed to have killed the insurgents on the orders of the Triumvirate, not just out of his own warped sense of right and wrong.
• Leone is the only member of the team to openly defy Kraken after he takes over the team, Dryagin did mention in issue one that she was the most loyal to him. Though saying that, the rest of the team seem very reluctant to go against him either. Bill also later helps Dryagin by using a tractor beam to give him time to escape, but he does this from the ship, meaning he could technically claim a mechanical failure was to blame for it. 
• The former sea of Japan is shown to be full of waste, further showing how polluted this future Earth is.
• Despite them being in a relationship, Umber doesn't appear to be too fussed that Leone may be in trouble for pinning down Kraken, instead Larssen appears to be more worried about her!
• Larssen's dislike of Kraken was actually hinted at in issue one of the series, where she seems disgusted by him hitting on her after their Cryo-sleep.
• Based on their apparent thoughts this issue I can see Leone, Bill and Larssen joining Dryagin, or staying loyal to him at least, with the rest either following Kraken, or just turning against their former leader due to it being their orders.

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #4

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part Four

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

Following the discovery that Starscream has escaped, or released from his ghost trap, the team as well as their Autobot allies relocate to their warehouse facility in Red Hook, where they store their extra vehicles and equipment (mostly so the Autobots can have more room to walk around). 

Whilst there, Optimus fixes his graffiti, by taking on a Ghostbuster-themed colour-scheme, and admits that he still doesn't believe in ghosts fully, but does trust his Autobots in their judgements. Ray and Winston upgrade some proton packs to be "Autobot-sized" so their new allies can help them to deal with Starscream and any other similar problems, and before-long, Egon has detected Starscream's PKE signature again, so the crew head out.

The team soon arrive at Long Island, where they quickly find Starscream at a power plant, who is happy to see Optimus there, with the latter being shocked that ghosts are actually real!

The Ghostbusters fire on Starscream, intending to trap him again, but the Decepticon calls for help, and Kremzeek arrives, stopping the proton streams. Starscream tells his master that he has brought Optimus to him, but Kremzeek retorts that he didn't want Optimus, but the Allspark, and proceeds to absorb Starscream inside of himself.

Kremzeek starts to monologue, explaining that he turned the Decepticons on Cybertron into ghosts to have them aid him in finding the Allspark, the Cybertronian artefact that gives life, which he wants for himself, but all the Decepticons, bar Starscream, refused to help, so he absorbed them too.

Using the monologue against him, the Ghostbusters and Autobots fire proton streams at Krezeek, but he uses a lot of energy to break free from them, he attacks Optimus, but is too weak to simply disintegrate him, like he did to the Decepticons, so he attempts to kill him manually, so he can absorb him, and learn the location of the Allspark, once and for all.

The Ghostbusters and Kremzeek try to find out a way to help Optimus, when Ectotron reveals that they left some traps, including the one holding the electrical being they captured earlier, and some mood slime. The crew release the energy being, who is immediately attracted to Kremzeek, due to him being made of electrical energy too. As soon as the two touch, they both de-stabilize and explode...

However, with kremzeek gone, the Decepticon ghosts he stored inside his body are released, Optimus offers to still use the Allspark to grant the Decepticons new bodies, so they don't have to continue in this unnatural state, but Megatron refuses and intends to continue the war forever. Optimus disconnects the Proton pack from his Ion Blaster, and attaches it directly to his arm, unleashing a proton energy-fuelled energy axe, stating that he is tired of their long-since-over war, and declares that he is not afraid of ghosts....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ectronymous Diamatron/Ectotron - Ecto-1

Decepticons

Megatron (Ghost)

Starscream - Tetrajet (Ghost)

Soundwave - Lamp Post (Ghost)

Shockwave - Ray Gun (Ghost)

Ghostbuster

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Egon Spengler

Janine Melnitz (Mentioned)

Other

Kremzeek, the Scavenger Destroyed with Killerwatt

Killerwatt Destroyed with Kremzeek

"Kremzeek's Children" Presumably Destroyed with Kremzeek

Gozer, the Traveller (Mentioned)

Notes

• Optimus Prime takes on his crossover toy colours this issue, we even see his ectoplasm splattered trailer briefly too...guess that was a part of the paint-job too...or Optimus went on a bit of a ghost kill-spree on the way to Long Island...
• He mentions that he changes his colours by using "Nanochromatic Camouflage", which he claims could have just removed the graffiti he was marked with last issue. This is most likely the "official" name for Electronic Paint, first seen in Transformers: Animated, as it appears to have the same properties
• So...turns out, despite wearing Mara-Al-Utha's outfit, and the Quintesson themed markings in issue one, "Kremzeek" is actually...Kremzeek, an alien that acts as a scavenger following Gozer when he attacks worlds, and he creates little Kremzeeks as his "children" or minions....okay then!
• It's not mentioned, but it seems like one of Kremzeek's "Children" were the ones who broke Starscream out of his ghost trap.
• Also, we knew that Starscream was hiding something about the incident on Cybertron, but it turns out that he alone was working with Kremzeek in his mission, and the other Decepticons turned on him, and were absorbed into his being...I wasn't expecting that to be honest!
• Optimus references that the Decepticons used to monologue all the time. This is due to the series being based on the 80's Transformers cartoon, where it was commonplace for the Decepticons to monologue a lot. The Ghostbusters might not have this same experience, since this team is the one directly based on the Live Action characters, and not the Real Ghostbusters cartoon characters.
• We see some Mood Slime in a container this issue, which the team plan to keep in reserve. This was the pink goop from Ghostbusters II, the same move that Vigo came from, and we saw the painting of him last issue....HMMMMM?
• It's revealed that Killerwatt, the ghost captured last issue was actually NOT connected to Kremzeek...and was just a coincidentally energy-based, electrical ghost roaming around at about the same time as this adventure? Huh...

IDW - Transformers (2019) #11

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part Five

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez & Anna Malkova

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Now back on Cybertron, Sentinel and Starscream walk through the Council Chamber's corridors with Orion Pax and Chromia, where they discuss the Ascenticon blockade, stopping Prowl from speaking with Barricade about recent potential crimes.

Sentinel says that he wants them to just storm the Ascenticon's base and take him by force, but Orion points out that following the destruction of the war memorial, which some are blaming on Security, so he wants to talk to Megatron about all of this first. Sentinel agrees, but asserts that if Barricade isn't in custody by sunfall, then they need to storm the base.

Afterwards, Chromia speaks with Orion, telling him that Windblade managed to shield the data she was recovering during the explosion and they have forty names of Rise members, who they are going to start sifting through to find their murderers.

Elsewhere, Megatron is furious with Soundwave, now that he has learned that he passed information taken from his mole, Barricade, to Shockwave, and he used Quake to kill the Voin witness, and now he is publically denying Security access to Barricade, making them look even worse.

Knowing he cannot keep Barricade around anymore, Megatron sends a secret message to Shockwave to have Barricade whisked away, and to make it look obvious.

Bumblebee visits the still badly injured Windblade in the medical facility, where Orion Pax also arrives, telling his friend that she will get better. He also asks Bee to end his covert operation as an Ascenticon member, due to the upcoming raid on the base by Security, as he doesn't want him caught in the crossfire. Bee however refuses, as he wants to do this to get out of Orion's debt, and now also feels he needs to atone for not being there for Rubble either, when he was murdered too, or he's going to end up breaking in some way...

Later, the Ascenticons man their stations, as they know Security are planning to raid them, during the scattering however, Bee notices Barricade speaking to Soundwave, and follows him, finding him and Skytread at one of the old Gladiator gates. At that moment, the doors are blown in by Sixshot and his team, who are there to take Barricade away.

Bumblebee manages to beat away the Risers, but has problems with Sixshot, however before the Riser can take him out, Skytread uses a taser to knock out Bee. Before anything else can happen, Prowl and his security forces break in, and the Risers flee, with Barricade in their custody.

In the aftermath, Megatron looks over the damage, and sees a way to make this work for him, he starts another broadcast and declares that his people are under attack, and that Security was not only planning to attack too, but that they let the Rise attack them as well. He uses a blowtorch to modify the insignia of his group, into what will one day be known as the Decepticon insignia....declaring it to be the future of their world.... 

Characters

Autobot

Sentinel prime - Spaceship

Orion Pax - Truck

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Ascenticon Base Raiders

Windblade - VTOL Jet In CR Stasis, Will Recover in Time

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Car

Bumblebee - Hovercraft

Barricade - Police Vehicle "Abducted" by Sixshot

Skytread

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Acid Storm - Tetrajet

Strika

Jhiaxus - Jet

Ratbat

Other Ascenticons

The Rise

Sixshot - Jet/Car

Storm Cloud - Jet

Visper - Jet

Shockwave - Spaceship (Mentioned)

Flamewar - Motorcycle (Mentioned)

Shadow Striker - Car (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Mindwipe (Mentioned)

Frenzy (Mentioned)

Rumble (Mentioned)

Slipstream (Mentioned)

Blackjack (Mentioned)

Treadshot (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Starscream - Tetrajet

Senate Attendant

Alpha Trion (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Solus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Nexus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Solomus (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Quintus Prime (Stained Glass Depiction Only)

Rubble (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Glyph (Mentioned)

Other

The Voin Scavenger Witness (Mentioned) Killed by Quake

Notes

• The bots in the stained glass windows in the hallway leading to Sentinel's office were chosen to represent different branches of state. As stated here, judging from the layout of the hallway, the opposite side may feature some more.
• The stained glass bots are also all members of the Thirteen Primes, or the Guiding Hand, implying that both groups are part of the mythology of this series too.
• Solomus being shown is interesting, as we can see his "crown" that was on his true form, who went by the name of "Tyrest" in the previous IDW continuity, implying that this universe didn't have a memory wipe of the Guiding Hands' identities and appearances, however we saw a statue of Primus in issue six, which was designed after the traditional Primus design, and not after "Rung". Now this could be just due to the artist wanting to use this design over the mythical form, but this could mean that Primus DOES have his traditional form in this universe, and isn't Rung again this time (HOPEFULLY!)
• The Statues sitting outside his office are also just cheeky references to the Movie version of Sentinel Prime, but with a sword inside of his Primax Blade
• As seems to be a habit now, the front cover that I have has nothing to do with the contents. Chromia appears in the opening scene, Windblade is seen in her CR chamber, and Sideswipe is nowhere to be seen. This would have been better suited for a couple of issues ago, when the trio went into the Monument base.
• Starscream is revealed to be the Head of Intelligence here.
• Glyph gets name-dropped in this issue, and appears to be based on the character introduced in the Extended Universe Botcon lines. I wonder if Tap-out hangs out with her too?
• Rumble is mentioned as being one of the Risers, possibly ending the conspiracy theory that Rubble was actually him in disguise (simply due to his name)
• All of the characters listed on the datapad as being Risers have had a new toy in recent years, so I could assume what alternate modes they have, but I wont that that risk, until it is confirmed (especially since a few have had multiple toys)
• Barricade is revealed to have been a member of the Ascenticons for a while now, but stayed in the Security Forces to act as a mole for Soundwave, and is confirmed to be the one who passed on the Voin's identity to Shockwave, leading to him sending out Quake to kill him, and Rubble by association. Megatron was apparently not aware of this mole situation.
• So...why did Soundwave or Shockwave send Quake to kill the Voin? Quake was made a very public member of the Ascenticons, meaning that the investigation, which will link back to him, will automatically link the Ascenticons to the murder too...what was the plan here? (They could have just had Sixshot or another warrior kill them instead!) My guess would be that they are somehow acting AGAINST Megatron to take leadership for themselves, much like the Marvel counterparts.
• Orion mentions that Windblade will recover from her injuries in time. This appears to be to quell the fears of the readers, who notice the similarities to Sideswipe's condition from the previous IDW continuity, which proved to be fatal.
• It is confirmed that Bumblebee was implanted into the Ascenticons on Orion's orders to spy on them, we also learn that Chromia is aware of this plan, but is the only other person to be aware of it.
• Orion comments on how inept the attack on Megatron in issue 2 was, something that people, including me, have been assuming was a staged attack ever since it happened.
• It is alluded to that Bumblebee was "saved" by Orion in the past. This is likely related to his firing from Security, which is still unexplained to us.
• The Ascenticon base is shown to be an old Gladiator Arena. I don't think this has been revealed before now!
• Sixshot is shown to be at least a triple changer, as we see his car mode for the first time this issue, we can probably assume he is a six-changer after all!
• Sixshot also still sports the wound from Windblade's sword skewering him from the last time we saw him. It is even affecting his T-Cog when he uses his car mode! Nice continuity and implementing an existing injury there!
• Skytread appears to be aware of the Ascenticon-Rise connection as he helps Sixshot to "kidnap" Barricade. Is Bumblebee the only one who doesn't know?
• As people have noticed since the start, the Ascenticon insignia is shown to be the basis of the Decepticon insignia, with Megatron revealing the new design this issue.
• Amongst the newly revealed Ascenticon members are Acid Storm and Jhiaxus, using their Siege and Thrilling Thirty designs respectively. And Strika and Ratbat in new character models

IDW - Transformers '84 #0

Writer: Simon Furman

Artist: Guido Guidi

Colourist: John-Paul Bove

Letterer: Tom B. Long

Production Assistance by: Amauri Osorio

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Cybertron is hurtling through the cosmos, but despite that, the war between the Autobots and Decepticons still wages on it's surface. The planet is heading directly for an asteroid field though...

Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots has a plan however, and has his forces construct a giant spaceship for them to leave the planet on, on a mission to clear the asteroids, but as the Autobot Council point out, they also have a plan to detonate explosives off the side of Cybertron to re-direct their course away from the field, so why is Optimus committing so much to this needless plot?

After a while, the Ark's crew is compiled, and optimus names his friend and compatriate, Ultra Magnus as the defender of Cybertron in his absence.

A Decepticon spy amongst the Autobots, Counterpunch, informs Megatron about the imminent launch of the Ark, giving Megatron the idea to follow them, and attack them after the crew is exhausted from clearing the asteroids, so they can finally defeat them!

Later, Counterpunch meets with Optimus Prime in the Badlands, reverting to his true form of Punch, a loyal Autobot, and tells him that Megatron has taken the bait and will attack the Ark as planned.

Optimus explains that he intends to have Megatron board the Ark, after which Optimus will crash the ship on a planet, trapping everyone within it, to save Cybertron from his evil, hopefully forever.

He tasks Punch with going undercover again, and ensuring that NO ONE ever finds the Ark or revives them.

Optimus apolgozies for asking his friend to do this, as it will be messy, but he is also going to suffer for his actions as well....

In the year 1017, on Earth, a hoard of Vikings attack Stansham Castle in England, which is fended off by their own soldiers.

Mostly unnoticed by the waring sides, an Autobot shuttle crash lands nearby, with it's crew, Fastlane and Cloudraker exiting and exploring the area, looking for the long lost Ark. The two however have been followed by a Decepticon team, made up of Counterpunch, Wingspan, Battletrap and Flywheels, who have been following the duo to find the Ark and their lost leaders too.

The Decepticons ignore the humans, seeing them as just mindless animals, and leave them to their petty feuds, but the Autobots decide to help out the underdogs, the Englishmen, in chasing off the Vikings.

Wingspan stays behind at the Decepticon's ship, and manages to locate the crash site of the Ark in America, however, before he can alert the others, he is shot in the back of the head by someone...

The other Decepticons find Wingspan, headless, and his computer console destroyed, and they immediately assume it was one of the two Autobots.

The go on a rampage and attack the two Autobots, who were completely unprepared and unaware of the Decepticons being here. They manage to fight them off, but Cloudraker is badly injured and placed into a CR Chamber on their shuttle. Fastlane tries to get them away, but Counterpunch shoots the ship down, crashing it into Stansham Castle, burying it underground and under rubble....

Characters

Autobot

Punch/Counterpunch - Hover Car

Fastlane - Car Trapped under Stansham Castle by Punch

Cloudraker - Jet Badly Injured by Flywheels, Trapped under Stansham castle by Punch

Optimus Prime - Battle Platform Trapped in the Ark

Prowl Trapped in the Ark

Jazz Trapped in the Ark

Ratchet Trapped in the Ark

Ironhide Trapped in the Ark

Windcharger Trapped in the Ark

Wheeljack Trapped in the Ark

Sunstreaker Trapped in the Ark

Sideswipe Trapped in the Ark

Bumblebee Trapped in the Ark

Cliffjumper Trapped in the Ark

Mirage Trapped in the Ark

Bluestreak Trapped in the Ark

Gears Trapped in the Ark

Hound Trapped in the Ark

Brawn Trapped in the Ark

Huffer Trapped in the Ark

Ultra Magnus

Crumble

Erector

Perceptor

Quickmix

Councillor Traachon

Autobot Council

Unnamed Ark Crew Members Trapped in the Ark

Other Autobot Soldiers

Decepticon

Battletrap - Van and Helicopter

Flywheels - Tank and Jet

Wingspan Killed by Punch

Megatron Trapped in the Ark

Starscream Trapped in the Ark

Soundwave Trapped in the Ark

Rumble Trapped in the Ark

Ravage Trapped in the Ark

Laserbeak Trapped in the Ark

Buzzsaw Trapped in the Ark

Reflector Trapped in the Ark

Shockwave - Ray Gun

Astrotrain 

Acid Storm

Ark Invasion Force Trapped in the Ark

Other Decepticon Soldiers

Other Cybertronian

The Titans (Mentioned)

Neutrals (Mentioned)

Human

King Canute

Knight Hakon

English Knights

Viking Invaders

Notes

• This one-off story marks the second official 35th anniversary special comic for the franchise, with the first being the Ghostbusters vs Transformers mini. Though this one IS the first solo franchise anniversary!
• The "84" in the title refers to 1984, the year the Marvel comics began in, as such, this story acts as a prequel to that part of the franchise
• Like with the prior series "Regeneration One" this series adds to the original continuity, and even features a large amount of the crew that worked on Regen.
• Punch's narration implies that he is speaking from the relative present, as he says that 1017 was about 900 years ago.
• This story is actually told in a non-linear style, so I reorganized it to make more coherent sense in the plot section.
• Since this story is set "pre-Earth" I have no idea what most of the characters turn into, since that was never really shown in Marvel, so unless they are shown or it is previously known information, I wont bring it up in the character section.
• This series marks the first major role for Punch/Counterpunch in a mainstream comic...EVER! The last time he appeared was in the afore mentioned Regeneration One, but only for one issue, and in a very unfulfilling role. (Before you mention it, the TFCC fiction doesn't count)
• Due to this being "in continuity" with the Marvel comics, it features some design nods etc to that series, such as Megatron having a dark grey bucket-head, or the Ark being white. However it also has some continuity errors in that case, such as the Micromasters, Erector and Crumble being amongst the Ark construction crew, despite them not existing until much later (these could be just tiny Autobots rather than Micromasters, but it seems like a stretch)
• Megatron appears to be aware of Counterpunch having an Autobot counterpart, but Punch appears to be the dominant persona, sue to him still being loyal to Optimus' orders millions of years later.
• The scenes set on Earth feature mostly characters not seen in the modern day of the Marvel continuities (US or UK) so they could be taken out without messing up the timeline too much.
• Despite Flywheels and Battletrap having pretty much their normal alternate modes, Punch/Counterpunch is shown to have a Cybertronian mode redesign (ie a hover-car). This seems a bit needless considering the other characters not being altered too.
• Amongst the Autobots in the Ark are five rather detailed generics. Are these just five random guys who die in the Ark crash, or are they the future Dinobots who were mentioned to be rebuilt just to face Shockwave during the rest of their sleep.
• It's finally revealed that the reason why Optimus brought his best warriors with him on an asteroid clearing mission, and wound up crashing the advanced ship on a random planet, was because this was an elaborate plot by him to imprison the Decepticons, who would go after Optimus and his best warriors, in a crashed ship, locking them into stasis lock in the process.
• Fastlane and Cloudraker are revealed to be the true identities of "The Man of Iron" and "Navigator" from the story "Man of Iron", who crashed into the castle when trying to leave Earth by Counterpunch. Their different appearances in that story are explained with Cloudraker's paint starting to chip away after he is shot by Flywheels.
• The Ship they piloted is named the "Mantlo" named after the writer for the first two issues of the G1 comics.
• It isn't outright stated, but it's very likely that Punch was also responsible for taking out Slamdance when he came to Earth with information about the Underbase

TFNation - Signal of Doom

Written by: Ralph Burns & Andrew Turnbull

Illustrated by: Nate Webb

Cover Art by: Ed Pirrie & Matt Marshall

Plot

This story is a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, so where the story would deviate to a bad ending, I'll mark it in parentheses, bold and italics (as such) Anything outside of these are the ideal storyline. Occasionally a bad route can be taken, but can be reversed to a good route, but I am just taking the most direct routes here.

Battle Unicorn (You) returns to Cybertron, but finds the planet under radio silence and with no life signs anywhere, until he receives an SOS from the planet.

(Battle Unicorn opens the SOS, and is directed to the Central Spaceport and decides to head there to investigate, however he finds a strange group of Cybertronians there, that he doesn't recognise, and before he can do anything he is ambushed and his spark is extracted)

Battle Unicorn hovers above the planet in his ship, and decide to land in Cybertropolis instead of the Central Spaceport, you see a group of Cybertronians you don't recognise, but smartly decide to leave them be

(You are foolish and approach the Cybertronians and get your spark extracted)

You walk towards the Central Spaceport to investigate the area from afar, but are surprised when a blinding light hits you and you plummet into a tunnel system, you see some lights down the tunnel, you ignore them, and head further into the darkness, where you encounter the Oracle itself, who tells you about Megatron conquering Cybertron and is calling wayward Cybertronians back to the planet with a fake distress signal to capture them too. The super computer gives you the option to help it...

(You decide to run away from the Oracle and proceed with you own mission to stop Megatron, but soon realise that you may have led the Drones to the Oracle's chamber, you return to save it, but you are instead captured, and you witness the Oracle being dismantled...)

You decide to accept help from the Oracle and are reformatted. You learn how to control your new form and are sent on a mission to destroy the Transmission Facility and proceed with you own mission to stop Megatron, and make it to the surface, you make your way to the Central Computer, where you link up to the computer to figure out where the Transmitter Facility is...

(You decide to stay hooked up for a while longer to determine what Megatron's plan really is, and you learn that he, after the Beast Wars on Earth returned to Cybertron and created his virus to conquer the world. Infuriated, you decide to go after Megatron at his fortress in Cybertropolis. He is, however, soon ambushed and is attacked by Jetstorm...ending his story there...)

You disconnect from the network and start to leave, you are attacked by a group of Tank Drones however...

(You go on the offensive and charge at them, but you are eventually caught by them, and are taken out)

You use your beast mode's seismic hooves to send the Vehicons flying and you run for your life, you see a load of Drones assembled

(You try sneaking past them, but they notice you and are captured and taken out by Jetstorm)

You go for higher ground to avoid the Vehicons, and are near the Tramsitter, but find a Transit Tube, that would get you to the Transmitter controls in record time

(You take the tube, but are ambushed by Jetstorm, who fires missiles at the prone vehicle, destroying it, and you along side it...)

You realise it would be foolish to take the Tube, so you enter the building and take the walkways instead, you follow the paths laid out for you, when you come across a small gap you can leap over

(You ignore the leap and continue down the pathway, but you made a mistake, and are taken out by a missile from Jetstorm)

You leap across the small gap, and continue doing that between buildings, until you start finding the gaps too far apart

(You return to the pathways, but are quickly dispatched by Jetstorm with a missile)

You make your way to the ground, and have eye-contact with the transmitter, you notice no Vehicons between you and the facility

(You rush out to the facility, but are quickly flanked upon, and taken out of commission)

You pause, and a Drone passes by you, not noticing you in the shadows, you dash towards the facility, where you see it is guarded by an army of drones.

(You try to sneak into the facility, but you trip the alarms and you are overcome with the Vehicons, who take you down, and extract your spark)

You transform and bellow out a threat to the drones, causing them to chase you

(You head to the transmitter controls, you enter the deactivation code, and it works and the transmission is stopped...however you realize that this was too simple, and the transmission can simply be reactivated, you should have gone to the power planet instead! With that, Jetstorm appears and take you out)

You diverge from the original plan and head to the power plant, you arrive and realize you don't have energy weapons any more..

(You try to overload the consoles, but cannot do so in time...Jetstorm arrives and takes you down)

You use you battle axe to smash the console apart and cause a chain reaction that causes the entire plant to go up. You resign yourself to you fate, when you are teleported to safety by the Oracle.

You have succeeded in this battle, but the war is not over and Megatron must still be defeated, and you will be hiding in the shadows until the day you can make your move....

Characters

Maximal

Battle Unicorn - Technorganic Unicorn (Killed/Spark Extracted by Vehicons - Bad Endings Only)

Vehicon

Jetstorm - Jet

Aero Drones - Jets

Tank Drones - Tanks

Cycle Drones - Motorcycles

Mole Drones

Megatron - Dragon (Mentioned)

Autobot

Sparkless Shells

Xaaron (Mentioned)

Admiral Rodney (Mentioned)

Other

The Oracle/Vector Sigma (Dismantled by Vehicons - Bad Endings Only)

Cybertronian Population (Mentioned) Sparks Captured by Megatron

Notes

• This is the TFNation 2019 exclusive fiction.
• This year we have a choose your own adventure style book, as such the plot synopsis will feature the "bad endings" as well as the "true ending"
• The timing of this story is unclear, but the presence of Jetstorm implies that this happens during the events of Season One of Beast Machines....but where are Optimus and his crew then? As soon as Botanica arrived on the planet they went out to try and save her!
• The branching options on page 9 make no sense. if you choose the "bad road" on page 19, you speak about how the Oracle is being dismantled and how you'll never learn of Megatron's secret plans....you haven't been informed of EITHER of those things in the story yet!
• On Page 11 to can decide to run away from the Oracle BEFORE you get reformatted on the next page, yet you are later referred to as Technorganic, and can complete the story from then on
• The comments about Battle Unicorn waiting in the shadows may be to explain why he never encounters Primal and his team...
• So...the Oracle can teleport at great distances? WHY DID IT NEVER DO THAT TO HELP THE MAIN CHARACTERS?!?!?
• Quite a few references are made in this story to things like "Pretenders", the "Multiforce" etc, but since context isn't ever given I'll only mention them in the character list if they are definitive names of characters etc

Sig Pub - Transformers #47

Notes

• This month's screencap comics are for the episodes "Matrix of Leadership" and "The Extinction Event"
• Most of the stock images used this issue are actually the Evergreen G1 designs...this confused me a lot when I saw Barricade, since I haven't played the Earth Wars game, and thought this was a previously unseen design for Cyberverse XD
• According to the "Barricade Fact!" feature, Barricade was once a racing car, rather than a cop like in most continuities
• The free gifts this month as some more of the sticker set started last month, an Optimus Prime figure and a box of temporary tattoos

Features

Adverts - Some adverts for a few UK Transformers products

Prepare for Battle!- Help Optimus with some puzzles!

Stop Shockwave!- Find the correct path and block it off to stop Shockwave from attacking!

Colour in Bumblebee! - Take a wild guess...

Priority Profiles - Ge some basic info on some Transformers, then do a crossword puzzle!

Battle of the Bots - Optimus Prime vs Megatron profiles

More Than Meets The Eye - Identify some characters by a small part of their bodies

Bee Count! - Count the different Bumblebee Poses on a page

Barricade Fact! - Complete a puzzle to find out a fun fact about Barricade

Decepticon Differences - Find the differences between two pictures of Evergreen Decepticons

Draw Grimlock! - Copy a grid-drawn Evergreen Grimlock, then answer some questions.

Transformers Post - Look at some scary kids pictures! (Also be jealous that one got the BotBots Arcade set as a prize!!!)

Competitions - Win some BotBots stuff!

Make a Doorhanger - Cut up the back page to make a doorhanger!

FBF - To The Death #3

Title: The Art of White Noise

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in UK by: Mixam

Plot

Following the lack of any real insurgents at Luna-9, the Pacifiers head towards Luna-5, another of the mining facilities on the Moon.

On Earth, in the former sea of Japan, Deacon Snow speaks to his captive, Lena, and explains that he has rescued her, as well as her son and dog, from being executed by the Triumvirate, but had to make it look like they still died, so they could live on, but under the radar. He explains that the Triumvirate wanted them dead to punish her husband for his success, but insists that they are going to save him too, before the Triumvirate decide he is no longer useful to them....

At the Southern Landmass's Regional Spaceport, a White Noise team arrive and kill the crew, until they find the technician capable of performing the pre-flight on a shuttle, an force him to help them head towards the Moon

The Pacifiers set up camp outside Luna-5, and are joined by the remote Cyber Warriors, they aere ordered not to kill anyone, and to try and find one man in particular, Paca Varos, one of the employees at the mine.

Soon, the group attack the encampment, with the Cyber Warriors ignoring their main orders and firing on everyone they can, causing absolute mayhem. Two of the Cyber Warriors are destroyed and their operators are out of the "game" during the battle, but the Pacifiers eventually manage to capture Varos, whom Dryagin puts in front of one of their camera drones to relay his story of working for the Energy Corp and being forced into being an insurgent by the terrible conditions at the facility, for the world below to see, but it of course falls on deaf ears.

One of the Cyber Warriors appears to go for Varos (really going after Dryagin though) and is also destroyed by Rekt.

Afterwards, the other two Cyber Warriors appear to accept Dryagin's leadership (see how long that lasts) and he orders for the "insurgents" to be placed into holding cells for their own safety, only for Kraken to later enter the cell and incinerate the prisoners, declaring that Dryagin isn't calling the shots any more...

On Earth, Snow apologizes to the footage of Lena, who he makes sure can't hear him, and apologizes for his past actions dooming their future, and swears to make amends and save everyone 

Characters

Pacifiers

Aleksy Dryagin/Komodo

Jonas Huey

Josiah Kraken

Leone

Hash Flynn

Megan Umber

Dolan Rekt

White Noise

Deacon Snow

Juddh King

Mazur

Two Other White Noise Members

Luna Insurgency

Paca Varos Killed by Kraken

Ned Killed by Kraken

Gil Killed by Kraken

Other Insurgents

Luna-9 Residents

Triumvirate

Veni

Vidi

Vici

Other Human

Lena Dryagin

Five Cyber Soldier Operators Three Defeated in Battle

Defeated Cyber Soldier #3's Family

Regional Spaceport Staff Killed by White Noise

Spaceport Flight Prep Technician Abducted by White Noise

Leo Dryagin (Footage Only)

Other

Lupex the Dog (Footage Only)

Notes

• Just like with Issue #0, I have to apologize that I have Furman's scribbles on the cover of this issue :)
• Snow's base is mentioned as being in the (former) sea of Japan. This is the first real mention of a modern-day location in this dystopian future.
• Snow's organization is named "White Noise" here, referring to the noise found in dead space (such as on TV or radio) which some people believe can hide messages or communicate with the dead etc. Seems appropriate for a subversive group huh?!
• The cyber soldiers are revealed to be allied to the Pacifiers, and were just sent to the Moon to set off the booby-traps...yes...they are totally not there to try and kill Dryagin and his crew
• Unshockingly after his psychopathic tendencies, we learn at the end of this issue that Kraken is planning a coup against Dryagin 
• Lena's reaction to the Triumvirate's names implies that they are not public figures, or could be shadowy figures of some sort
• Snow's past actions that he is sorry for, is most likely his work on the extinction weapon seen in issue 0.