IDW - Robots in Disguise #2

Comic Staff

Title: The World & Everything in it

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colour by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Storyline

Skywarp monitors Horri-Bull and Needlenose and has Ratbat cover for the fact that the I/D chips aren't working now by having Soundwave kill him for them. Skywarp teleports back to the Decepticon's encampment, where Ratbat has everyone prepare for the assassination of Bumblebee to take place the next day. Starscream gets annoyed with Ratbat and thinks the plan is stupid so he walks out of the base, Ratbat has Long Haul follow him.

Starscream walks to the Autobot's Kimia base and Bumblebee meets him outside, but rather than talking to him he just attacks the Decepticon with his new cane's weapons, thinking it was an ambush. Starscream is taken into the base as a prisoner by Prowl.

Starscream wakes up in a cell and finds Prowl ready to interrogate him, but Starscream willingly reveals everything about Ratbat's plan to him. Elsewhere Needlenose and Skywarp atack Zetca (as he was responsible for Horri-Bull's death vicariously) and plan to frame him for assassinating Bumblebee (thus turning the Autobots against NAIL's and allowing the Decepticons to stage a coup) Skywarp teleports himself and Zetca to a tower near the stage where the memorial is being held.

Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ironhide and Metalhawk stand on the stage and begin the service for their seemingly dead friends (with Starscream and Long Haul in the crowd) and Bumblebee takes the opportunity to try and sway the public opinion to liking Autobots. Skywarp gets ready to fire from the tower but Prowl attacks and disables the Decepticon, and then watches as Metalhawk and Bumblebee formalized a truce between themselves. Long Haul wonders why Bee isn't dead yet but Starscream asks him to tell Ratbat that the mission succeeded.

Ratbat receives word that Bumblebee is dead and has his Decepticons prepare for the next stage of the plan. Ratbat flies off to his quarters to prepare, but as soon as he's alone Arcee attacks him, clips his wings and murders him on Prowl's orders. She leaves through the air-vents as a Decepticon comes in wondering what the noise was.

Arcee meets up with Prowl on the tower and they agree that Ratbat was resisting arrest and was armed, which is why he was killed, and they watch as Starscream steps on stage and states that he should be a part of the new government that Bumblebee and Metalhawk are forming as a representative of the Decepticons.

Characters

Autobot


Bumblebee - Car
Prowl
Arcee
Sideswipe - Car
Ironhide - Van
Wheeljack
Autobots in Crowd

Decepticon


Senator Ratbat - Cassette Killed by Arcee
Starscream - Jet
Skywarp - Jet Injured by Prowl
Long Haul
Mixmaster
Hook
Horri-Bull Killed by Soundwave (via remote)
Needlenose - Jet
Shockwave
Soundwave
Rumble - Cassette
Ravage -Cassette
Bombshell
Megatron (Mentioned)
Other Decepticons

NAIL/Unaligned


Metalhawk - Jet
Zetca Injured by Skywarp and Needlenose
NAILs in Crowd

Comic Notes

• Arcee might be the silhouetted character seen in the previous issue...but some of the details seem to be different between the character models, so maybe Prowl has ANOTHER cohort?
• The damage caused to Soundwave's face in The Death of Optimus Prime has made him mute, like his Prime counterpart
• Ratbat now claims to be the reason why the Decepticons were formed due to his dodgy dealings in Megatron: Origin
• It seems weird that Ratbat sent out Long Haul to spy on Starscream rather than an actual tracker like Ravage
• Bumblebee's cane has been refitted into a cattle-prod-like weapon
• The Autobots have built a stage in the new capital city where they hold the memorial from in this issue, which includes a large screen behind them
• Prowl now has a pair of baton weapons to attack enemies with, which have also been upgraded with an electrical discharge like Bee's cane.
• Skywarp's teleportation can be stopped by jamming some objects (like Prowl's batons) into him as he's in the middle of it  
• Metalhawk has now publicly stated that he wants to work with Bumblebee to help rebuild Cybertron
• Arcee murders Ratbat on Prowl's ordersin secret.
• Arcee might be Spider-Man as she's seen leaping across the Cybertronian Skyline
• Skywarp still holds a grudge against Bumblebee after the events of the Bumblebee series
• Despite not acting as deputies now, the Decepticons seem to be free to roam around Cybertron as well (since Long Haul and Starscream have been freely travelling all issue)
• Starscream only tells Prowl that Skywarp's I/D chip is failing, it's unknown if he told him about the others (it's unlikely though)
• The last time the Autobots trusted Starscream was when Sunstreaker trusted him and set off the events of All Hail Megatron
• Zetca seems to be the whipping bot of this series, he's been beaten up twice in as many comics

IDW - More than Meets the Eye #2

Comic Staff

Title: Liars, A to D Part 2: Hangers On

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colour by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: John Barber

Storyline

Whilst the rest of the crew are hunting down their missing crew members, Brainstorm and Perceptor work on fixing the ship's Quantum Generator, which was damaged when Ore was pulled into it and melted into it, causing the malfunction that sent the crew elsewhere in space. Rodimus asks Brainstorm to join the search teams to help find some of the others from the air. 

Elsewhere Hoist, Chromedome and Rewind have recovered Cyclonus from the water all whilst Skids suddenly appears in a space ship through a tear in space above them, without them noticing. Skids wakes up in the ship and has trouble remembering things, but he slowly starts remembering things and ejects himself from the ship after setting a crash course for it (he doesn't know why he's done that though). The Ship crashes near to where Skids lands and some large robots chanting "Nineteen Eighty-Four" come out of the rubble.

On the Lost Light Rung is being treated for his injury caused by Cyclonus in the medibay, when rtachet starts getting concerned over his own fingers tensing up again, and explains to him that Tailgate is ancient, so he's called in Swerve to examine him and carbon date him. Drift calls in and says that they've located all but 2 of their lost crewmen and asks Ratchet to make the medibay cheery for them to heal better. Ratchet gets annoyed, and even more so when Swerve says that Drioft now thinks the Knights have become beams of light now. Ratchet gets ready to start treating Whirl (grumpily) when he wakes up and attacks Rung, until Rung tells him to stop or Magnus will send him to jail, after that Whirl just leaves in a strop.

Tailgate wakes up and assumes he's on the Ark. Tailgate begs Ratchet to let him tell him and he agrees. Tailgate very carefully and very hilariously tells him he's been asleep for six million years, which causes Tailgate to scream, and could be heard outside the ship.

Skids fights off the 1984 bots and comes across the corpses of Hyperion and Polaris, and he uses Polaris as a weapon and causes him to explode on one of the 2 robots, killing it, leaving one still alive.

On the bridge of the Lost Light Cyclonus is looking out the windows and is granted permission to join the crew, if he behaves (despite him having helped kill some of their friends in the past) and Ultra Magnus agrees too, bringing Whirl into the bridge as well. Rodimus has the two troublemakers make up after their fight on Cybertron and Cyclonus embraces the Autobot in a hug, but whispers that he'll kill him for attacking him before and then leaves.

Swerve and Tailgate go out onto the planet and Swerve becomes obsessed with trying to get Tailgate to transform (especially since he's been told to take it easy for a while) and they start to bond and they meet up with Chromedome and Rewind who are heading back since Brainstorm has found Polaris and Hyperion's corpses when suddenly Skids crashes from the sky in front of them. Chromedome takes the inhibitor claw off Skids' back, enabling him to use his built in weapons and finishes off the last of the 1984 robots. Skids is offered a ride on the Lost Light, which he accepts, whilst Tailgate seems fascinated by the now dead robot.

Later the Lost Light takes off again and Rodimus greets his crew on the bridge and tries to keep up morale despite the bad first day. Swerve has finally convinced Tailgate to transform, and whilst he does that (very slowly) Swerve goes and talks to Skids and explains what their mission is, which Skids isn't too thrilled about.

The Crew decide that they need a name, and a debate starts, but during the discussion Red Alert calls from a lower deck and says that there's possibly a Sparkeater on the ship, as he's found Shock dead, with his spark ripped out as well.

Characters

Autobot


Rodimus - Speedy Car
Ultra Magnus - Truck
Drift
Skids - Van
Brainstorm - Jet
Perceptor - Treaded Vehicle
Chromedome
Rewind - Giant Memory Stick
Hoist - Tow-Crane
Ratchet
Rung - Communications Maintenance Buggy
Whirl - Osprey Helicopter
Swerve - Van-Buggy
Red Alert
Shock - Treaded Vehicle Killed by Sparkeater
Ore - Treaded Vehicle Killed by Quantum Generator Accident
Polaris - Car Dead
Hyperion - Treaded Vehicle Dead
Trailbreaker - Van
Blaster
Inferno
Hound
Mainframe
Sunstreaker
Grapple
Cosmos
Smokescreen
Powerglide
Brawn
Huffer
Gears
Pointblank
Pipes Injured in Crash
Rollout Injured in Crash
Sureshot Injured in Crash
Highbrow (Mentioned)
Springer (Mentioned)
Rack 'N' Ruin (Mentioned)
The Wreckers (Mentioned)
Omnibots (Mentioned)
Monsterbots (Mentioned)
Lost Light Crew Members

Cybertronian 


Tailgate - Car?
Cyclonus - Space Jet
The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)
The Circle of Light (Mentioned)
Galvatron - Laser Cannon (Mentioned)
Nova Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Other


1984 Bots - Gestalt Spaceship Killed by Skids
Diagnostic Drone
Vector Sigma (Mentioned)
Warriors Elite (Mentioned)
Sparkeater (Mentioned)
Agents of Chaos (Mentioned)

Comic Notes

• Brainstorm is still holding his briefcase holding "The Unmentionable", since he is also said to transform in this story it can be assumed that either the briefcase can become a part of his alternate mode, or his right hand is leading to a storage area inside his alternate mode
• Perceptor seems to have given up on his sniper side and appears to be a full time scientist again
• The Duobots, Shock and Ore, sound like they should be the counterparts to the Duocons, but they don't seem to be made up of 2 vehicles each...just one (a tracked one each)
• Nothing about Skids' past is currently known, but it can be assumed that it was exciting (Can I smell a Skids miniseries on the horizon?)
• The massive bots who were chasing Skids keep repeating "Nineteen Eighty-Four" In the real world this is when the Transformers franchise began, but it obviously means something else in this continuity, maybe it's Skids' prisoner number? A file number? Who knows! (Well I guess James Roberts does, but we won't for a while I'd guess)
• Ratchet has a Diagnostic Drone in the lab with him on the Lost Light
• Ratchet's solution for his fingers getting a big stiff is to whack them with a big mallet....issues?
• Drift has become more spiritual since his near death experience during Chaos (y'know, when he tried to kill himself?)
• Whirl was in prison for a while, and is now on a final warning after doing something to Springer (Whirl was mentioned to be all but lost to the Wreckers in Bullets, so maybe this is what was meant by that)
• Because of a joke by Swerve Tailgate thinks Whirl's name is "Nut-Job".
• Swerve has now promised half of his rations to Ratchet for letting him tell Tailgate he's been asleep for 6 million years
• Hyperion and Polaris died whilst they were ejected from the ship (and Skids seems to have known them before he went missing). Or they might have been killed by the 1984 bots since they're still smoking and flaming
• Polaris is in vehicle mode after death, implying that was his preferred mode.
• Cyclonus is revealed to have hitched along with the Lost Light by holding onto the hull before take-off as he didn't want to be on Cybertron anymore (after it's massive changes). Like Whirl, he's on a final warning as well (since he led the attack on Kimia and killed dozens of Autobots)
• Swerve compares Rewind and Chromedome to Rack 'N' Ruin due to their closeness
• Skids didn't realize he was holding a handgun all the time he was fighting the 1984 bots...i'm sure there's a story to that somewhere
• Metallurgists were called "Skin Specialists" in Tailgate's day
• Most of the crowd scene on the bridge of the ship is very clear, but a couple of the characters are either completely new designs or are coloured in shadow, so it's too hard to identify them
• Swerve wants to retake the "-con" suffix from the Decepticons, so as the team can be called "The Crusadercons"
• The Lost Light was a Neutral ship before Rodimus and his team bought it (I guess they bought it off a NAIL or something)
• The Lost Light has lost contact with Cybertron (most likely due to distance) which is why Bumblebee and the others think they're dead
• Roadbuster was mentioned to have had a dealing with Sparkeaters before, also in Bullets.
• The possible plots that Swerve jokes about to Skids COULD be real artifacts in this continuity, and seem to be based on previous storylines from the franchise. The 12 fragments of the Primal Lock are most likely based on the Cyber Planet keys and Omega lock from Cybertron, the Infinity Gate is most likely a reference to any plot device space gateway or some sort (like the one from The Face of Nijika) and the Agents of Chaos are most likely Unicron's minions. He even mentions the Multiverse, which is a common theme in the TFCC comics.
• The OSAL on Tailgate's arm originally said "Bomb Disposal" but it's just worn off over the years
• It's considered rude to ask what another robot's alternate mode is
• The first planned start for the Lost Light is New Crystal City, so they can try and recruit the Circle of Light to join their quest

TFCC - A Flash Forward #1

Release Date: Feb/Mar 2012
Issue Number: 43
Continuity: G1 TV Series, Post Generation 2: Redux


2005 Intro Writer: Flint Dille
2005 Intro Pencils: Dan Khanna
2005 Intro Inks: Josh Warner
Writers: Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair
Pencils & Inks: Matt Frank
Colours: Thomas Deer
Letters: Jesse Wittenrich
Managing Editor: Pete Sinclair

Story

In 2005 Devastator has just defeated the Dinobots and is rampaging through Autobot City during Megatron's attack when Ultra Magnus, Sideswipe, Red Alert and Tracks confront him, and manage to force him to de-combine. The Comstructicons attack the Autobots and manage to take down Red Alert whilst the others run away and regroup. Megatron watches on in glee.

In the present day the Battlechargers are telling this story and continue to say how Optimus and Megatron fought next leading to Megatron's death and return as Galvatron. Their audience, whom is revealed to be Jhiaxus finds this all very interesting and declares that he shall rebuild the Cybertronian Empire with himself as it's sole attendant.

Characters

Autobot

Ultra Magnus - Mighty Hauler (2005 only)

Sideswipe - Lamborghini Sports Car (2005 only)

Red Alert - Lamborghini Emergency Car (2005 only) Seemingly killed by Constructicons

Tracks - Stingray Muscle Car (2005 only)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Dinobots (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Jhiaxus - Jet

Runabout - Black Tasty Tuner

Runamuck - White Tasty Tuner

Megatron - Gun (2005 only) Rebuilt as Galvatron

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train (Mentioned)

Sounwave - Cassette Player (Mentioned)

Hook - Crane (2005 only)

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck (2005 only)

Long Haul - Dump Truck (2005 only)

Scavenger - Excavator (2005 only)

Scrapper - Front End Loader (2005 only)

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer (2005 only)

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (2005 only)

Notes

• The first four pages of this issue are based on a deleted scene from the 1986 Movie (the storyboard can be seen in various special editions of the DVD)
• The Character Profiles have started using just photographs of the toys with some photo manipulation instead of creating artwork for them
• Jhiaxus' character model seems to be based on his Universe toy
• The Battlecharger's have changed their character models since we last saw them (this is currently unexplained)
• Runabout and Runamuck didn't go off with Galvatron and his troops into space (as mentioned in Generation 2: Redux) because they think he's crazy.
• I've put Galvatron's alternate mode as Tank here due to it being shown as his Universe toy in Generation 2: Redux, and thus was his alternate mode always in this continuity
• As with my own conventions, I'm naming the alternate modes with the TFCC's own names from profiles if available, so I'm assuming Runabout will be the same as Runamuck's
• The hammer Ultra Magnus is holding in his profile is based on his TFA Counterpart's weapon (and despite it being very noticeable it's not mentioned in his weapon's section)

The Allspark Addendum

Road Rage by Lockdown

Chromia by Rattletrap

Flashpoint by Minerva

Rosanna Live Poster (includes image of Manatronatee the Minesweeper, he new pet and other Easter Eggs)

Other Features

Hasbro Interview

LeVar Burton Interview

Ultra Magnus Profile

Runamuck Profile
Transformers I.Q. (A quiz)
Featured Fan Art
Recordicons Mini-Comic

Titan - Prime Volume 4 #5

Basic Information

Cover Characters: Stock image of Arcee and Ratchet

Cover Date: March 2012

Price: £2.65
Poster: Autobot Group Shot

Comic Title: School is... Out!

Script: Robin Etherington

Art: Horacio Domingues 

Inks: Ruben Gonzalez 

Colours: Nestor Pereya

Lettering: Comicraft

Comic Plot

Several schools in Jasper County are being destroyed (after being evacuated) and the police have no idea who's causing it. The Autobots decide to investigate as they find it a bit odd that it's happening so near their base, so they tell the kids to stay away from school until it is all resolved.

Shortly afterwards Arcee and Jack are staking out Franklin High where the school is being evacuated and MECH suddenly appear on the scene. Arcee reports this to Optimus, who tells her that MECH are attacking the other schools in the area where the other Autobots are staking out as well, so they can't have any back-up. Jack says that he wants revenge for what Silas did to him and his mother last time.

Jack infiltrates the school but is quickly captured thanks to the security system, when Silas reveals that they've been blowing up the schools to try and find Jack and his friends. Silas starts to set off explosives, and tells Jack that he's to be left inside whilst it blows up, whilst MECH can escape on a helicopter. Arcee however rams into the building and defends Jack from the MECH soldiers and Silas reaches the roof.

On the roof Jack reaches them and knocks down Silas, and Arcee rounds up the MECH soldiers, however Silas is rescued by some more of his soldiers and leave son a helicopter and gloats that they're going to die on that roof, however Arcee transforms and revs Jack off the roof to safety, and Arcee just comments about how much she would do to protect those she cares for, like Jack and...wait...did they leave the MECH soldiers on the roof to die as the school blazes up!??!?! DUDE!!!!!

Comic Characters

Autobot


Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Arcee - Motorcycle
Ratchet - Ambulance (Green Version)

Decepticon


Airachnid - Helicopter (Mentioned)


Human


Jack
Miko
Raf
Silas
Sterling Spoon
Bliss Meadow
June (Mentioned)
MECH Soldiers
School Kids
School Staff

Comic Notes

• In Ratchet's only appearance in this comic he's coloured like Bulkhead...colouring mistake? Or an attempt at a new character for the comics like Hoist?
• Sterling Spoon and Bliss Meadow are likely references to former Marvel UK characters Irwin Spoon and Joy Meadows - If not then they are some BIZARRE coincidences....
• This story is set after Crisscross (which hasn't been released on UK TV at the time of printing)

Extra Features

Adverts

Competitions

Arcee Profile

Defuse the Bomb! - Puzzle based on today's comic

Save Jack! - Maze based on today's comic

Episode Guide: Volume 1 - Darkness Rising Part 5

Starscream's Stumpers - Puzzles from Starscream

A Walk on the Wicked Side - Soundwave does a Crossword

Mega-Mouth- Megatron and Arcee do the fan mail page