Characters
Autobot
Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Bumblebee - Sports Car Badly injured by Joe Gladki
Cliffjumper - Sports Car
Ratchet - Ambulance
Smokescreen - Sports Car
Prowl - Police Car
Wheeljack - Race Car
Jazz - Sports Car
Jetfire - Jet Injured by Vortex
Broadside - Warship/Jet Injured by Vortex
Cosmos - Orbiter
Brawn - SUV
Red Alert - Lamborghini Gallardo Emergency Vehicle
Silverstreak - Sports Car
Ironhide - Van (Mentioned) Dead
Blurr - Cybertronian Race Car
Hot Rod - Sports Car (Mentioned)
Springer - Helicopter/Rocket Car (Mentioned)
Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Bumblebee - Sports Car Badly injured by Joe Gladki
Cliffjumper - Sports Car
Ratchet - Ambulance
Smokescreen - Sports Car
Prowl - Police Car
Wheeljack - Race Car
Jazz - Sports Car
Jetfire - Jet Injured by Vortex
Broadside - Warship/Jet Injured by Vortex
Cosmos - Orbiter
Brawn - SUV
Red Alert - Lamborghini Gallardo Emergency Vehicle
Silverstreak - Sports Car
Ironhide - Van (Mentioned) Dead
Blurr - Cybertronian Race Car
Hot Rod - Sports Car (Mentioned)
Springer - Helicopter/Rocket Car (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Thundercracker - F15 Jet
Onslaught - Anti Air Missile Truck Crippled by Autobots
Brawl - Tank Crippled by Autobots
Vortex - Military Helicopter Crippled by Autobots
Swindle - Military Jeep (Mentioned)
Rampage - Tiger
Divebomb - Falcon
Headstrong - Rhino
Tantrum - Bull
Scrapper - Front End Loader Killed by Spike
Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Flashback)
Starscream - F15 Jet
Megatron - Gun Badly injured
Shockwave - Ray Gun
Soundwave - Cassette Player
Razorclaw - Drill Tank
Dreadwind - Jet Killed and Cannibalized
Darkwing - Jet (Mentioned)
Needlenose - Jet
Quake - Tank Killed by Starscream
Pounce - Puma
Acid Storm - F15 Jet
Sunstorm - F15 Jet
Rumble - Cassette
Bombshell - Boll Weevil
Kickback - Locust
Shrapnel - Stag Beetle
Thundercracker - F15 Jet
Onslaught - Anti Air Missile Truck Crippled by Autobots
Brawl - Tank Crippled by Autobots
Vortex - Military Helicopter Crippled by Autobots
Swindle - Military Jeep (Mentioned)
Rampage - Tiger
Divebomb - Falcon
Headstrong - Rhino
Tantrum - Bull
Scrapper - Front End Loader Killed by Spike
Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Flashback)
Starscream - F15 Jet
Megatron - Gun Badly injured
Shockwave - Ray Gun
Soundwave - Cassette Player
Razorclaw - Drill Tank
Dreadwind - Jet Killed and Cannibalized
Darkwing - Jet (Mentioned)
Needlenose - Jet
Quake - Tank Killed by Starscream
Pounce - Puma
Acid Storm - F15 Jet
Sunstorm - F15 Jet
Rumble - Cassette
Bombshell - Boll Weevil
Kickback - Locust
Shrapnel - Stag Beetle
Human
Major Spike Witwicky (Skywatch)
Joe Henderson (Skywatch)
Campolongo (Skywatch)
Kyle Pennington (Skywatch)
Sandra (Skywatch)
Emily (Skywatch)
Schwalbe (Skywatch Engineer)
Kim Jong Du
Joe Gladki
US President (On Screen)
Russian Prime Minister (On Screen)
General Daniel Witwicky
General Allenby
News Anchor
Kim Jong Il (Mentioned) Dead/Dethroned
Korean DMZ soldiers
North Korean Soldiers
US Military Soldiers
Skywatch Personnel
Mrs Witwicky (Flashback)
Tim Simmons (Flashback) Killed by Devastator
Major Spike Witwicky (Skywatch)
Joe Henderson (Skywatch)
Campolongo (Skywatch)
Kyle Pennington (Skywatch)
Sandra (Skywatch)
Emily (Skywatch)
Schwalbe (Skywatch Engineer)
Kim Jong Du
Joe Gladki
US President (On Screen)
Russian Prime Minister (On Screen)
General Daniel Witwicky
General Allenby
News Anchor
Kim Jong Il (Mentioned) Dead/Dethroned
Korean DMZ soldiers
North Korean Soldiers
US Military Soldiers
Skywatch Personnel
Mrs Witwicky (Flashback)
Tim Simmons (Flashback) Killed by Devastator
Storyline
Megatron laments over the recent events from his CR Chamber whilst being repaired, the Decepticons are fighting and stealing amongst themselves. Dreadwind is hunted down for stealing from the others and killed, all whilst Razorclaw is watching. Shockwave is busy doing a mystery project whilst Soundwave is slaving over fixing Megatron. Starscream is strutting around the base, made from their crashed shuttle with the Matrix around his neck and goes to see Bombshell, who rather than working on a way to replenish their supplies has been working on a cerebro-shell design to control anyone fully. Starscream is angry at him for wasting his time when Quake blasts into the lab intending to kill them for leading them to their doom, when Starscream throws the shell at him and tells him to die, which he does. Starscream asks if he has any more of them.
On Earth Daniel Witwicky is officially introduced to Optimus Prime as an ally and when alone he tells Spike to be careful, considering what they've been up to in secret. Later, after the general leaves Spike introduces Sandra, a new member to the Autobots, all whilst Megatron waits to heal up.
Spike works out at the gym and reveries over how he doesn't like relying on machines and how he likes to work out to make himself stronger. Later he meets with the chiefs and explains his decision to ally with the Autobots to them which they don't seem too happy with still.
Spike goes out on the hunt and finds Scrapper in a building site, where he attacks him with weapons designed specifically to harm Cybertronians like an acidic compound. When he manages to pin down Scrapper using some fallen girders he says that he wants to kill him because of how he's a part of Devastator, and that the Gestalt killed a good friend of his in New York. He grabs a specially designed gun and blasts him in the head, utterly killing him. He leaves as he knows that a Skywatch patrol will be called in to pick him up later.
North Korea has started to produce Energon for an unknown reason to the rest of the world, but it's causing concerns across the globe as the country has been quiet since the Decepticon Occupation of Earth. In Korea's demilitarized area the Combaticons Onslaught, Brawl and Vortex attack on orders from Kim Jong Du (Kim Jong Il's son) to try and take Seoul.
Back in America Skywatch have learned of the Combaticons involvement in the crisis and admit that they expected something like this would happen sooner or later with Decepticons allying them with the more aggressive nations and they decide to get involved.
Ratchet is showing the Skywatch engineers how to help with repairing Transformers whilst fixing up Cliffjumper, whilst Jetfire and some others are worried that they might try to harm them again, since they were just doing so a few months ago. Spike goes a speaks with Optimus, who is still in a cell voluntarily and he asks Optimus to help them out as a "consultant". Bumblebee and Optimus agree that the Combaticons have to be stopped, and say that they're stronger than that average Decepticons who have been left on Earth, so they need a team to attack them.
Before they can assemble a team however the US President appears on TV and announces that the US are not allied with Autobots and that any country that is will be treated as harbouring nuclear weapons, and will be dealt with as such. Spike says that they need to change their plans now.
The Skywatch team arrives in South Korea via boat, but encounters some problems with a dock manager, until he's knocked out. The Autobots on the team leave their crates, they head into a warehouse, transform and plan their moves, including outfitting their vehicle modes with weapons.
Elsewhere the Combaticons have finished an attack and are taking an Energon break, when Du appears and moans at them for being lazy and idle. The Combaticons obey Du until they can come up with a plan for themselves. The nearby Military are getting ready to attack the Combaticons, when some heavily armed cars appear and start blasting at them (so the Autobot's involvement can be kept secret). They target Vortex so he can't fly off but he manages to fly into the air, where he's intercepted by Jetfire.
The Autobots and Skywatch lure the Combaticons to the nearby water where they mock them by reminding them that they're waterproof, however Broadside starts blasting them from the water in boat mode. Until Vortex uses his rotors to slice off one of Jetfire's wings, making him plummet down into Broadside, taking them both out of the battle. The Combaticons leave in the confusion.
Later Jetfire and Broadside are taken into the wraehouse for repairs whilst Optimus and the others worry about how they can't even win with the element of surprise, however Optimus has been in contact with Bumblebee, who has a plan to help them out.
Back in America Bumblebee meets with Skywatch at his hideout and asks him to help them out.
Thundercracker says he doesn't want to get involved, but Bumblebee appeals to his warrior side by asking himhow long will it be before he gets bored of just watching TV. Thundercracker comments that he must have been a good saboteur before his promotion. At a Skywatch base the left behind Autobots are bored with waiting for something to do. Sandra is irked by having to go against Presidential orders for the Cybertronians, but is told to just follow the orders given.
The Combaticons are relaxing after their victory in Korea when they suddenly see alot of smoke around them and Optimus rams through the wall of the building and knocks Vortex out, where Ratchet clips his rotors and the others are stalling the other two. Meanwhile Cosmos is in orbit and manipulates the satellite monitoring the area, and alters it to show some false images, allowing the Autobots to transform and fight properly. Voretx manages to escape and gets into the air, but is stopped by a newly arrived Thundercracker and forced to the ground. The Autobots fight with the Combaticons with Skywatch's help, but are stopped by the Predacons from entering Chinese territory, which they are very nearly approaching, and the Predacons have been hired to protect.
Optimus manages to avoid fighting with the Predacons by promising not to bring the fight into China, and they start to walk off when Onslaught shoots Rampage in the back making them believe that they've broken their word, and they begin to fight with them. The situation is getting worse in the Korean/Chinese border and Cosmos is having to alter the satellite feeds again and Sandra gets worried that someone might notice how suspicious these video feeds are if analysed, she flips and turns off the encryption, allowing the real footage to go live instead of Cosmos' false images.
Skywatch learn of what Sandra just did and that she left the base right afterwards. The images are now on the news stations and the White House makes a statement. The Russian Prime Minister announces that they will start and investigation of this incident, and that they are going to air strike the battle field so that the Transformers will be destroyed, rather than having a repeat of the Occupation occurring again.
Pennington contacts Spike and warns him about the nuclear strike coming, and he informs everyone else in the battle field. The Predacons leave the area for China again to get to safety, whilst Cosmos grabs the missile and hacks into it, redirecting it into the Arctic Circle, whilst Thundercracker flies off and destroys the Energon production facility in Pyongyang. The Autobots worry about what's going to happen next, since it's been revealed that Skywatch is fighting along with the Autobots on the news thanks to Sandra. They leave the Combaticons in Korea, with no energon supplies and no way to fix themselves.
A week later Spike and his team are still on route home, whilst Skywatch's base is being hounded by protesters all saying to send the robots away. Bumblebee decides to leave the base and speak to the protesters himself and insists that they aren't here to harm them, only help and tries to explain how they are different to Decepticons, he sways some of the protesters, but one of them, Joe Gladki gets out a special gun and blasts Bumblebee square in the chest, sending him offline, causing mixed reactions from the protesters.
On Earth Daniel Witwicky is officially introduced to Optimus Prime as an ally and when alone he tells Spike to be careful, considering what they've been up to in secret. Later, after the general leaves Spike introduces Sandra, a new member to the Autobots, all whilst Megatron waits to heal up.
Spike works out at the gym and reveries over how he doesn't like relying on machines and how he likes to work out to make himself stronger. Later he meets with the chiefs and explains his decision to ally with the Autobots to them which they don't seem too happy with still.
Spike goes out on the hunt and finds Scrapper in a building site, where he attacks him with weapons designed specifically to harm Cybertronians like an acidic compound. When he manages to pin down Scrapper using some fallen girders he says that he wants to kill him because of how he's a part of Devastator, and that the Gestalt killed a good friend of his in New York. He grabs a specially designed gun and blasts him in the head, utterly killing him. He leaves as he knows that a Skywatch patrol will be called in to pick him up later.
North Korea has started to produce Energon for an unknown reason to the rest of the world, but it's causing concerns across the globe as the country has been quiet since the Decepticon Occupation of Earth. In Korea's demilitarized area the Combaticons Onslaught, Brawl and Vortex attack on orders from Kim Jong Du (Kim Jong Il's son) to try and take Seoul.
Back in America Skywatch have learned of the Combaticons involvement in the crisis and admit that they expected something like this would happen sooner or later with Decepticons allying them with the more aggressive nations and they decide to get involved.
Ratchet is showing the Skywatch engineers how to help with repairing Transformers whilst fixing up Cliffjumper, whilst Jetfire and some others are worried that they might try to harm them again, since they were just doing so a few months ago. Spike goes a speaks with Optimus, who is still in a cell voluntarily and he asks Optimus to help them out as a "consultant". Bumblebee and Optimus agree that the Combaticons have to be stopped, and say that they're stronger than that average Decepticons who have been left on Earth, so they need a team to attack them.
Before they can assemble a team however the US President appears on TV and announces that the US are not allied with Autobots and that any country that is will be treated as harbouring nuclear weapons, and will be dealt with as such. Spike says that they need to change their plans now.
The Skywatch team arrives in South Korea via boat, but encounters some problems with a dock manager, until he's knocked out. The Autobots on the team leave their crates, they head into a warehouse, transform and plan their moves, including outfitting their vehicle modes with weapons.
Elsewhere the Combaticons have finished an attack and are taking an Energon break, when Du appears and moans at them for being lazy and idle. The Combaticons obey Du until they can come up with a plan for themselves. The nearby Military are getting ready to attack the Combaticons, when some heavily armed cars appear and start blasting at them (so the Autobot's involvement can be kept secret). They target Vortex so he can't fly off but he manages to fly into the air, where he's intercepted by Jetfire.
The Autobots and Skywatch lure the Combaticons to the nearby water where they mock them by reminding them that they're waterproof, however Broadside starts blasting them from the water in boat mode. Until Vortex uses his rotors to slice off one of Jetfire's wings, making him plummet down into Broadside, taking them both out of the battle. The Combaticons leave in the confusion.
Later Jetfire and Broadside are taken into the wraehouse for repairs whilst Optimus and the others worry about how they can't even win with the element of surprise, however Optimus has been in contact with Bumblebee, who has a plan to help them out.
Back in America Bumblebee meets with Skywatch at his hideout and asks him to help them out.
Thundercracker says he doesn't want to get involved, but Bumblebee appeals to his warrior side by asking himhow long will it be before he gets bored of just watching TV. Thundercracker comments that he must have been a good saboteur before his promotion. At a Skywatch base the left behind Autobots are bored with waiting for something to do. Sandra is irked by having to go against Presidential orders for the Cybertronians, but is told to just follow the orders given.
The Combaticons are relaxing after their victory in Korea when they suddenly see alot of smoke around them and Optimus rams through the wall of the building and knocks Vortex out, where Ratchet clips his rotors and the others are stalling the other two. Meanwhile Cosmos is in orbit and manipulates the satellite monitoring the area, and alters it to show some false images, allowing the Autobots to transform and fight properly. Voretx manages to escape and gets into the air, but is stopped by a newly arrived Thundercracker and forced to the ground. The Autobots fight with the Combaticons with Skywatch's help, but are stopped by the Predacons from entering Chinese territory, which they are very nearly approaching, and the Predacons have been hired to protect.
Optimus manages to avoid fighting with the Predacons by promising not to bring the fight into China, and they start to walk off when Onslaught shoots Rampage in the back making them believe that they've broken their word, and they begin to fight with them. The situation is getting worse in the Korean/Chinese border and Cosmos is having to alter the satellite feeds again and Sandra gets worried that someone might notice how suspicious these video feeds are if analysed, she flips and turns off the encryption, allowing the real footage to go live instead of Cosmos' false images.
Skywatch learn of what Sandra just did and that she left the base right afterwards. The images are now on the news stations and the White House makes a statement. The Russian Prime Minister announces that they will start and investigation of this incident, and that they are going to air strike the battle field so that the Transformers will be destroyed, rather than having a repeat of the Occupation occurring again.
Pennington contacts Spike and warns him about the nuclear strike coming, and he informs everyone else in the battle field. The Predacons leave the area for China again to get to safety, whilst Cosmos grabs the missile and hacks into it, redirecting it into the Arctic Circle, whilst Thundercracker flies off and destroys the Energon production facility in Pyongyang. The Autobots worry about what's going to happen next, since it's been revealed that Skywatch is fighting along with the Autobots on the news thanks to Sandra. They leave the Combaticons in Korea, with no energon supplies and no way to fix themselves.
A week later Spike and his team are still on route home, whilst Skywatch's base is being hounded by protesters all saying to send the robots away. Bumblebee decides to leave the base and speak to the protesters himself and insists that they aren't here to harm them, only help and tries to explain how they are different to Decepticons, he sways some of the protesters, but one of them, Joe Gladki gets out a special gun and blasts Bumblebee square in the chest, sending him offline, causing mixed reactions from the protesters.
Notes
- The Decepticons are cannibalising amongst themselves to keep alive
- Thundercracker's lair is full of TVs so he can watch several channels at once
- Skywatch provided a ship for Springer's people to leave Earth
- It's not clear why Razorclaw stayed on the Decepticon asteroid whilst the others went to Earth...
- Spike's workout scenes are oddly homoerotic!
- Kim Jong Il must have been killed during the occupation of Earth
- I can understand why Swindle isn't with the Combaticons, since he's on the run from Magnus, but why isn't Blast-Off with them?
- The Combaticons working for North Korea is very similar to what happened in the G1 cartoon when Octane and Trypticon worked for Carbomia
- Bumblebee gets shot :3
- It's not clear why the Predacons have taken on beast modes on Earth, maybe it's of mythical significance for China?
- Ratchet uses his G1 toy's sled to help him in repairing the injured Autobots.
My Thoughts
Art
The art in the first issue of this story is much more simplistic than the rest of the book and was a drastic change after the movie-inspired issues before. The remaining issues are quite well drawn with bold colours and lines.
The art in the first issue of this story is much more simplistic than the rest of the book and was a drastic change after the movie-inspired issues before. The remaining issues are quite well drawn with bold colours and lines.
Story
This is actually quite a fun story-arc and looks into what would happen if other countries made alliances with Transformers, rather than just the Autobots being allied with America
This is actually quite a fun story-arc and looks into what would happen if other countries made alliances with Transformers, rather than just the Autobots being allied with America
Continuity
The events of Infestation happen before the events of the International Incident storyline. The rest is continued on from the earlier issues of this storyline. Springer is mentioned from Last Stand of the Wreckers. Megatron was badly injured in All Hail Megatron, but will be fully restored in Revenge of the Decepticons. Sandra's storyline will conclude in Chaos: Police Action. Ironhide was killed in For All Mankind.
The events of Infestation happen before the events of the International Incident storyline. The rest is continued on from the earlier issues of this storyline. Springer is mentioned from Last Stand of the Wreckers. Megatron was badly injured in All Hail Megatron, but will be fully restored in Revenge of the Decepticons. Sandra's storyline will conclude in Chaos: Police Action. Ironhide was killed in For All Mankind.
Other
Cosmos' and Smokescreen's new character model is based on their Universe toys. Cliffjumper has switched to his G1 based character model rather than his previous IDW model. For some reason Thundercracker is shown in his F15 body again here, despite being back in his F22 body in the next storyarc!
Cosmos' and Smokescreen's new character model is based on their Universe toys. Cliffjumper has switched to his G1 based character model rather than his previous IDW model. For some reason Thundercracker is shown in his F15 body again here, despite being back in his F22 body in the next storyarc!
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