IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #8

Staff

Title: Scavengers (part 2): Who's afraid of the DJD?

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colour by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Years ago, Fulcrum and his fellow K-Class Decepticons are airdropped onto Clemency during a battle, where Fulcrum doesn't seem too happy about things.

Back in the present the Scavengers are all panicking about the D.J.D. coming to kill one of them, and decide between them that their only chance is to fight them, Krok even has plans to use the still stasis-locked Grimlock as well.

On the Lost Light, Skids and Chromedome have met up in the Oil Reservoir, where Skids asks Chromedome to read his mind so he can remember his lost memories.

On Clemency the Scavengers have set up Grimlock's "coffin" with circuit speeders (taken from the Monstercon they found before) that when opened will give Grimlock an adrenaline boost. Tarn contacts the Scavengers and they say the traitor has been killed and is in a coffin for them to pick up. Tarn reveals that he's upset that he can't kill Fulcrum himself. The group look at Fulcrum, who starts to explain what he did, but is cut short when the D.J.D. land on Clemency.

Tarn opens Grimlock's coffin and the Dinobot immediately attacks him, but he is easily subdued, which Krok can't understand why. Helex appears behind the Scavengers as they try to escape and they're drawn into fighting the D.J.D.

Back on the Lost Light, Chromedome cuts the mind-reading short when he starts seeing disturbing things, and certain song that he never wants to hear really, and says that Skids doesn't want to remember these things as the memories weren't suppressed they were destroyed.

On Clemency Tesarus puts Flywheels through his mincing chest, which shreds his upper body into little pieces. Kaon restrains Krok whilst Vos puts his spike-backed face mask over Krok's own face, causing immense pain, Misfire tries to save him, but ends up shooting him instead. Misfire is attacked by The Pet, who starts chewing his arm. Crankcase is thrown across the battlefield by Helex and lands near Fulcrum, who runs off, however Crankcase sees something and remembers what Worldsweepers were famous for.

Tarn starts using his weaponized speech to try and kill Grimlock, but is stopped by Crankcase inside a ginat battle suit. The D.J.D. fight Crankcase in his new suit and destroy it.

Fulcrum decides enough is enough and declares to the D.J.D. that he's not afraid any more, and that he thinks the Scavengers are worth ten of them, he then transforms to his bomb mode and launches towards Tarn, intending to kill himself and the D.J.D. He lands with barely an explosion, but before anything else can happen Kaon informs Tarn that he's located where Overlord is. The group leave immediately to hunt down their primary target, and Tarn reveals that all of the Scavengers are now on his list to kill.

The Scavengers find Fulcrum still intact, and Misfire reveals that they removed his explosive before he woke up (in case he blew up on them), and he then explains how he was arrested for cowardice and sent to Styx, but before he could be killed there he was conscripted into the K-Class by Megatron, and his team were deployed as weapons against the Autobots on Clemency. Crankcase brings back Krok, badly hurt, but still alive. Misfire tries talking to Grimlock, but discovers that his brain is basically destroyed, which explains why he was left behind on that ship. The Scavengers decode to head back to Cyberton with Grimlock in tow, to use him as a bargaining chip. Either as a gift to Megatron if the Decepticons won, or to return him to the Autobots if they won, for leniency. Before they leave however they scavenge through Flywheels' remains for anything they can find.

18 months later a robot (most likely the Necrobot) arrives on Clemency and adds/removes Flywheels' name to his list, right after Hound, Chromedome, Dipstick, Drift and Ultra Magnus....

Characters

Autobot

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Mostly Brain Dead

Chromedome - Car

Skids - Van

Rewind - Memory Stick

Pipes - Truck

Swerve - Van

First Aid - Ambulance

Ultra Magnus (On the List)

Hound (On the List)

Dipstick (On the List)

Drift (On the List)

Diplomatic Corps (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Misfire - Jet

Spinister - Helicopter

Krok Face Crushed by Vos

Crankcase

Flywheels - Tank/Jet Killed by Tesarus

Fulcrum - Disarmed Bomb

Tarn - Tank

Kaon - Electric Chair

Tesraus - Metal Mincer

Vos - Sniper Rifle

Helix - Mobile Smelting Pool

Torque - Bomb Dead

K-Class Cons - Bombs Dead

A Monstercon (Mentioned) Dead

Megatron (Mentioned)

Genericons (Mentioned)

Banzai-Tron (mentioned)

Overlord (Mentioned)

Other

"The Pet"

Tailgate - Car

Proteus (Mentioned)

Mortilus (Mentioned)

Necrobot

Notes

• The K in K-Class/K-Cons likely stands for Kamikaze
• Rather than splitting into 2 vehicles, Flywheels is a triple changer (as he was shown converting into tank mode last issue, and jet mode this issue)
• The Lost Light has Movie Nights...this is awesome!
• This story references the events of the 2012 Annual, but the book was postponed to after this issue
• Tarn's transformation addiction is shown in this issue, he's shown changing from tank-bot-tank-bot within 4 panels and even changes to tank mode during his fight with Grimlock as well (and then changing back again)
• The song Skids keeps hearing is called The Empyrean Suite, this is likely the song Tarn plays as well
• Vos' line of "Wear My Face" is clearly an inversion of Optimus' line "Give me your face" from ROTF
• This issue shows that Sparkeaters can come in various forms (the one from the Lost Light was more standard robot-like, whilst The Pet is a Turbofox)
• Boy Kaon sure does looks like an evil version of Rung doesn't he?
• The Worldsweeper ships come with several "Cybernaughts", giant battle suits for Transformers to ride in
• Tarn has read Banzai-Tron's files of every Decepticon, and has ranked everyone in order of importance etc
• Grimlock has been rendered basically brain dead since he was last seen. This is likely due to Overlord torturing him on G-9. How he got off the planet is still a mystery though.
• It's assumed that the robot on the last page is the Necrobot, but there's actually no actual proof of that (he probably is though)
• Krok is usually shown holding a small rod in his hand, this is something connected to his squad, which he seems to think is still around. The others think they aren't.
• Despite being dumb as toast, Spinister is actually a skilled surgeon! (Maybe the Lost Light can get him to work on Rung?)
• The list on the last panel is most likely misleading on some of those names, as shown earlier in both MTMTE and RID, some characters have shared names (Prowl on Delphi and Prowl on Cybertron, Autobot Skydive and Decepticon Skydive) so some may be misleading like that, such as with Hound or Drift (though unique names like Ultra Magnus are unlikely to be duplicated).
• Krok is referred to as a Genericon by Kaon, this is most likely just an insult, and doesn't mean he's part of the same group as the guys shock in the Delphi storyline.
• In the background, Spinister can be seen using his rotor blade as a sword...awesome
• Fulcrum didn't turn into his bomb mode in the first place because he was too afraid of dying, and this was his D.J.D. crime as well, he lived.

DDP - GI Joe vs The Transformers Black Horizon

Plot

In Tibet, 1978, The Adventure Team (Joe Colton, Atomic Man and Cok-Pa) are hiking through to avoid the Chinese when suddenly they're found by them and attacked. The Team hide, but are stunned when the planes are attacked by some strange organic weapons and a flying man. Chok-Pa gets scared and itentifies them as Kohbrala, the men under the mountain, and insists they leave immediately. The Pretender Bludgeon suddenly appears to stop them from leaving, and briefly fights Atomic Man (whom he kills). He is however stopped from killing the other two when Pythona arrives and says she needs a new pet....

Today, in Denver, Colorada, a now retired Hawk wakes up from another apocalyptic dream about the future thanks to the Matrix which he downloaded into himself before. He's retired due to the lies told about the Cybertronians, and the whole Serpentor incident, and is now being called insane and a traitor by people, especially for his refusal to go public about his beliefs. Hawk later agrees to meet with Ms. Allen, a reporter who he intends to tell the whole story to, but during the interview Skids sends him a message from their ship and insists he comes with them for an important mission. Hawk cuts the interview short and leaves, and gets picked up by Cosmos (in flying saucer mode) which shocks Ms Allen into believing Hawk's story a little more.

In Cuba, Destro is making an Arms Deal with Mr Calandero for some of the remaining SNAKES, but it's interupted by Eject, Prowl and Sideswipe, who easily defeat Destro and his troops, however they're called away by Skids as well before they can arrest Destro, and before the Joes arrive. Firewall picks up a message from space stating "I RETURN". This hurts Hawk and he insists that Optimus needs to come to Earth now to help.

On Cybertron, Optimus leaves for Earth, with Hot Rod wondering why he's not sending a team instead of going himself, which he correctly guesses is because of what happened to Bumblebee during the Serpentor incident.

In Tibet, Pythona informs a still captive Joe Colton (GI Joe) that Unicron is on his way. Back in Cuba, Flint is contacted by Hawk in secret and asks him if he wants to join him on a mission to Tibet (as they know that's where the strange signals for Unicron are coming from). Back at Cobra-La, in Tibet, Mindbender warns Golobulus that they've detected an aircraft, most likely the Joes heading towards Cobra-La, Golobulus tell shim to fortify the defenses and to summon the Pretenders.

Optimus Prime, Hawk and Flint airdrop into Tibet, thanks to a contact of Hawk's in the Chinese military and they use the Matrix's powers to try and locate the problem. On the edge of the Solar System some aliens are planning on pillaging Earth for resources when suddenly they're attacked by Unicron, who devours them and their ship. Back on Earth, in Destro's Silent Castle Destro is thanked (via video) for his role in the grand scheme by transporting their mushrooms in his ships, despite them being lost when the ships were destroyed in battle. Destro feels like he might have just sold out humanity some how (but the money probably made those dark thoughts go away). In Cobra-La Pythona reveals to Mindbender that the mushrooms are actually eggs of the Nyarath, which radiate a spore that the Nyarath can follow, and since the Autobots got so close to them, the Nyarath can find them, despite any stealth tech they might be using.

Off the coast of California a large flying creature (the Nyarath) flies towards the Autobots, whoa re all just relaxing in their ship, underwater. Suddenly the ship is attacked and the Moster Pretenders beak in, and start attacking everyone in sight.

In Cobra-La Optimus and his group are ambushed by Bludgeon and some Royal Guards. Bludgeon manages to injure Optimus, but Hawk uses his Matrix powers to download music into Bludgeon's mind and distracts him enough for the group to escape. Golobulus has been watching this and is angered that his plans might be foiled so late in the game.

At the ocean again Cosmos is nearly hit by the Nyarath when he sees Eject bringing Firewall to the surface of the water, both of whom having avoided being attacked by the Monsters. Cosmos takes Firewall with him to rendezvous with Optimus and the others in Tibet, whilst Eject stays behind to try and save the Autobots left behind.

In Cobra-La Pythona tells Colton that a team calling themselves "GI Joe" are coming, giving him hope, once Pythona leaves, Colton uses a long hidden small piece of bone to pick his shackles and free himself.

At The Pit, the Joes are looking through their "wanted" list of Cobra agents when suddenly Firewall appears on the screen and tells them all she knows to be happening.

In Cobra-La again Optimus and the others have found some markings on a wall telling them of Unicron arriving on Earth, but making a deal with the people of Cobra-La, who had a fungus weapon that devours metal. Unicron agreed to return when Humanity itself had reached a level of power worthy of him to devour, but to leave the planet itself for the people of Cobra-La to live on. After reading this Optimus confirms that he always thought of Unicron as just a "boogeyman" but this shows him that he is real and they must stop him.

The group are found again by Bludgeon and his Royal Guard team, but the two Joes and Optimus ar ehelped out by a now freed Joe Colton!

Cosmos and Firewall arrive in Tobet and start looking for Optimus and the others, when Firewall is dragged underground, and Cosmos falls in shortly afterwards. In the undergorund Firewall is confronted by a Yeti. Elsewhere in Cobra-La, Golobulus is chastising Pythona for allowing Colton to escape, and orders her to awaken Nemesis Enforcer.

Back at The Pit, GI Joe are being outfitted for a mission to Tibet, and Duke and Jaye get official permission from Flagg to allow this mission. Unicron draws ever closer, and even NORAD's sensors start to pick up Unicron's message, which blows out their systems.

Optimus and the others are running through the caverns in Cobra-La trying to avoid Bludgeon and his crew, but are found by them on a bridge. Optimus fights Bludgeon whilst Colton fights the Royal Guards an dthe other two try to get away (and to free Flint from his random binds). Bludgeon is knocked off the bridge, Optimus tries to save him, but Bludgeon's pretender shell is infested with the metal eating sungus spores and it starts to eat Optimus' hand, so he has to let go, and Bludgeon falls to his death. Flint is freed from his binds, and Colton has defeated the Guards. Optimus blasts the bridge behind them to stop anyone else from following them. Elsewhere, Pythona awakens Nemesis Enforcer from his chamber and tells him there's someone she wants him to destroy.

Unicron is nearing Earth now, and poeple can start to see his planet mode from the surface as a star. Unicron blocks Earth's communications so they cant call for outside help etc. In the caverns Firewall is told by Mindbender that the people of Cobra-La are going to use her as a sacrifice to Unicron. Nearby, Colton and the others find the chamber filled with metal eating fungus and are forced to fight the Yeti who guard it for Cobra-La. Cosmos arrives from a hole in the ceiling in UFO mode and helps out, whilst also explaining that Firewall's gone missing. Colton interrogates one of the Yeti's for Firewall's location.

The Joes arrive in Tibet but are immediately attacked by the Monster Pretenders, who have merged into Monstructor.

Flint goes inside Cosmos with a load of the metal eating fungus spores (they're safe in their pod forms) and they fly up into the sky and enter the now arrived Unicron's mouth (he just transformed) hoping to use them on him. The people of Cobra-La are gathered together for the sacrifice to Unicron and their victory, when Optimus Prime drives through with the Humans inside. An all out battle ensues with the Creatures of Cobra-La being summoned to attack Optimus as well.

Nemesis Eneforcer faces Colton, as he was the target, in which Colton slices off Nemesis Enforcer's wings. In orbit, Unicron starts his attack on Earth, causing weather disturbances and earthquakes first due to his proximity, whilst Cosmos is flying through and encounter's the crew inside Unicron, who start to fight them off. Optimus and the Joes are being pinned down by their foes, but Optimus manages to free himself.

Hawk rescues Firewall by shooting Golobulus before he can kill her, and a battle ensues between the two. Outside Monstructor is causing havok and kills some of the Joes, until the Laser Squad blasts off his head, taking out the whole team. 

Inside Cobra-La, Nemesis Enforcer is about to kill Colton, when Pythona changes her mind and instead kills Nemesis Enforcer, admitting to Colton how she feels for him. Unicron is demolishing cities on Earth, but Cosmos manages to reach his brain chamber, but Cosmos is injured by a blast, so Flint leaves him, carrying a bag of the spores and goes on foot the rest of the way.

Hawk frees Firewall, but is attacked by Golobulus again, who still wants to kill Firewall, but luckily she's saved by Optimus, who punches the snake-man into the ground, killing him. The rest of GI Joe arrive at the city and the tide of the battle is changed in the human's favor.

Inisde Unicron, Flint defeats several of Unicron's crew, including Carcass (one of the aliens Unicron devoured earlier) and then shoots the spores, causing them to spread. Unicron's head starts to erupt, but Cosmos and Flint manage to escape in time.

Later on, the people of Cobra-La are arrested, with the leaders intended to be tried for crimes against humanity, and everyone reunites. In the aftermath everyone is fixed up, and Optimus spends some time relaxing with Firewall and Eject watching some trashy TV shows. Later again, Joe Colton is made the head of a team to investigate Unicron's body and to try and see if any of his crew need rescuing or help.

In Denver, Hawk reunites with his girlfriend and they walk off into the sunset together...with Unicron's body floating in orbit...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Cosmos - Flying Saucer

Eject - Cassette

Skids - Van

Prowl - Police Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Hot Rod - Car

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Bumblebee (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Bludgeon Killed by Optimus Prime

Slog

Icepick

SCowl

Birdbrain

Wildfly

Bristleback

Monstructor - Monster Pretender Gestalt Defeated by Laser Squad

Serpentor (Mentioned) Dead

GI Joe

Hawk

Firewall

Flint

General Flagg

Snake-Eyes

Lady Jaye

Duke

Mainframe

Cover Girl

Outback

Scarlett

Bushido

Snow Job

Windmill Killed by Monstructor

Sci-Fi

Flash

Red Spot

Payload

Countdown

Cobra-La

Golobulus Killed by Optimus Prime

Pythona

Nemesis Enforcer Killed by Pythona

Dr Mindbender

Royal Guards

Cobra-La Civilians

Yetis

Creatures of Cobra-La

Cobra-La Ancestors (Flashback)

Adventure Team (Defunct)

Joe Colton/GI Joe (Joins GI Joe)

Atomic Man Killed by Bludgeon

Chok-Pa Died in Captivity

Cobra (Mostly Defunct)

Destro

Mistress Armada

Iron Grenadiers

SNAKES Destroyed by Autobots

Baroness (On Screen)

Zartan (On Screen)

Firefly (On Screen)

Iron Klaw (On Screen)

Tomax (On Screen) In Custody

Overlord (On Screen) In Custody

Darklon (On Screen) In Custody

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet Brain attacked by Metal Eating Spores

Ms Allen (Reporter)

Carolee 

Mr Calandero

NORAD Staff

Human Civilians

Chinese Military

Beastformers Unicron's Servants

Lobotomaxx (Lunartix) Devoured by Unicron, Maybe made into Slave

Predacon (Lunartix) Devoured by Unicron, Maybe made into Slave

Carcass (Lunartix) Unicron's Servant, Killed by Flint

Notes

• Think of this series as the 80's GI Joe movie, crossed with the 80's Transformers movie
• The Pretender tech is explained here to have been made by Cobra-La, makes sense since it's an organic-like substance. This is to keep them safe from the weather etc in that part of Earth.
• I think Atomic Man is the fastest named human character to be killed off!  (after 6 pages)
• Even though it seemed that the people of the world knew of Cybertronians in the past, it seems like the Transformers are being covered up, which Hawk isn't happy about (most likely due to his visions of the future)
• Cobra is basically gone now, with Destro acting as a normal arms dealer, and most of the agents either on the run, or captured by now.
• The work Mindbender did for Cobra-La was to help fix their "God Beacon", which of course is what they use to summon Unicron back to Earth.
• Cobra-La seem to have access to human currency, as they pay off Destro to carry mushrooms in his ships
• The Autobots seem to have cut off ties with GI Joe, barring a couple of rogue's like Hawk and Firewall
• The Matrix apparently has over 11 million traditional Cybertronian songs in it...maybe Nova Prime liked music?
• Unicron can be defeated by metal eating fungus.....
• Unicron uses some psionic powers to start tearing apart Earth, instead of just eating it, this is likely part of the deal made with Cobra-La, so they can retake the Earth properly after humanity is gone
• Joe Colton has Kung-Fu Grip...
• Nemesis Enforcer appears to have been kept in a state of suspended animation for some reason, but can be revive with blood (or at least Pythona's blood anyway)
• The Anti-Bodies/Crew inside Unicron are the Battle Beasts, and the aliens who were "devoured" by him earlier...it's probably safe to assume that Unicron ate their world, kidnapped some to act as his crew and mind-controlled them. It's not clear what happened to them after Unicron "dies" but it's likely they either died with him, or they were freed from his control
• Pythona seems to love Joe Colton, and it's possible that Joe feels the same way, from some glances
• Eject likes bad TV and football
• By the end of this story, Unicron is seem floating in orbit around Earth, a parallel of his fate at the end of the 80's Movie (albeit he was just a head then)

DDP - GI Joe vs The Transformers Art of War

Plot

Inside Area 52 some scientists are working on their Serpent.O.R. project by uploading Megatron's memories into the robot as well as those of several other human villains, all whilst Zarana hides in plain sight as one of the scientists, spying for Cobra. On a higher level in the complex GI Joe have set up a base of operation and have had a space bridge built to allow some Autobots to come through to assist them in removing Cybertronian technology from Earth (probably because the last time someone used Cybertronian tech they almost caused an apocalypse). Perceptor, Bumblebee, Arcee and Grimlock come through and are greeted by GI Joe. Perceptor projects a communication from Optimus to his human friends and helps to clarify their mission, and gives thanks for their work in defeating Shockwave before, and explains that Cybertron is now mostly peaceful, with the Decepticons stuck in the Gladiator Zones now.

GI Joe bid goodbye to their soon-to-be destroyed battle suits when suddenly the base is under attack by Cobra and an army of BAT's and SNAKE's. GI Joe and the Autobots attack them and witness the Cobra robots combine into Cobratron! Sadly for Cobra though the Autobots and Joes seem to be more than a match for the enemy robots and are easily taking them down.

In the lower levels Dr Wise (Zarana) sets a beacon to allow Cobra Commander and Zartan to burrow down into the base to retrieve Serpentor for Cobra to use. Bumblebee follows Cobra Commander down his tunnel, but is zapped by Zartan before he can stop Cobra Commander from doing anything. Cobra Commander shoots Sepentor's chamber and frees him, but Serpentor (who has Megatron's memories as well) attacks the Commander on sight. Zartan plants a device on Serpentor's back, which injures him briefly, but he shortly attacks the Cobra agents once again.

The battle up top is over, but there's reports that there are explosions etc down below, and Perceptor notices that Bumblbee's missing. In the lab again Serpentor has put on his suit of armour and links up to Soundwave's head and downloads Cybertron's history, where he learns about the Matrix of Leadership and decides that he'll take the Matrix for himself and his "father", Megatron.

On Cybertron Optimus is lamenting his life as leader and misses the days when he was just an archivist, but is happy they are now in a time of peace. Hot Rod comes in and reports that Cobra are giving Grimlock's team on Earth some problems, Optimus is worried because he knows Cobra Commander can be a problem, but Hot Rod's just worried in case Grimlock's not back in time for the upcoming celebrations.

The Autobots and Joes head down to the lower levels where they rescue Bumblebee from getting beaten by Cobra Commander. In the lab Perceptor is outraged to find Megatron's head in the lab and says that they've done something terrible, though Hawk doesn't know what's happening here. The Joes and Autobots interrogate Cobra Commander to find out what's happening here where they learn that the government have been secretly building an organic robot...and he's right behind them. Serpentor attacks the Joes and Autobots and manages to take control of the Battle Suits, but fails to control the actual Transformers, due to their sparks. The Battle Suits are forced to fight the Autobots and Cobra and his team run away.

Scarlett attacks Serpentor, but he easily knocks her away and then tears down the room around them to at least slow them down, whilst he leaves and heads to the space bridge room.

The Autobots and Joes are freed from the rubble, and Scarlett finds a couple of the scientists for them to question later. Serpentor reaches the space bridge controls and transports to Cybertron.

In the Gladiator Zones the Predacons and Seacons are fighting amongst themselves when Serpentor arrives and connects to them, showing his connection to Megatron and conscripts them into his new Decepticon army.

Perceptor and the others are planning to return to Cybertron, and Hawk, Roadblock, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett want to join them. Dr Li asks them to return Serpentor intact, to which Mainframe just punches him, and tries helping Dr. Martin to activate his failsafes (which the Megatron personailty is overriding) and also briefs him on Serpentor's abilities and his goals etc. Mainframe sends out a call to the rest of the Joes to come as reinforcements.

The team from Earth are sent to Cybertron and end up in the Gladiator Zones to try and hunt down Serpentor when they're attacked by some Cannibalizers, when suddenly they are stopped by Serpentor and his now growing Decepticon army. Serpentor uses his cable to crush and kill Bumblebee (YAY!), and Serpentor is curious as he felt something leave Bumblebee as he died. He has the Decepticons take the Autobots and Joes hostage.

In the Capitol city, plans for the party are still taking place and Optimus wonders why Grimlock's team has gone to the Gladiator Zone. Hot Rod decides to go and see what's happening with a small team.

The Autobots and Joes are restrained in the Gladiator Zone where the Humans are talking amongst themselves about the situations they are in, and Snake-Eyes and Scarlett confess their feelings for each other (n'awwww).

An aerial team fly over the Gladiator Zone and are concerned as there's no sign of anyone, even Decepticons in the area. Inside one of the buildings Serpentor has gathered as many Decepticons as possible together and brings them all into his new army...

Elsewhere the celebrations for peace are underway, when suddnely the Decepticons attack, Optimus has Omega Supreme defend the city and the populace, but he runs into problems when he's surrounded by Menasor, Piranacon and Predaking.

Omega Supreme falls in battle, but Optimus is having no problems fighting off the attacking Decepticons, however he is pinned down by Menasor, whilst the Reflector trio relay a message to Optimus from Serpentor asking him to surrender himself and the Matrix to him. Optimus agrees to surrender himself if Serpentor ends the fighting in the city, and he'll seurrender the Matrix if he releases the hostages as well.

On Earth, Cobra Commander and Dr Knox are making preparations for Cobra Commander's next plan. Back on Cybertron, Serpentor goes to see Hawk, and asks him why he felt nothing at all when he killed Bumblebee, even though he actually felt his spark die. Hawk says it's because he has nothing to care for, Serpentor leaves and promises to kill him quickly when the time comes.

Snake-Eyes manages to take control of Breakdown's mind briefly using his ninja skills and has him blast Nautilator and then to free him and Scarlett. The two of then steal his gun and blast Hawk and Roadblock out of their cage too.

Hot Rod and his team are assembled at the edge of the Gladiator Zone, ready to go after the hostages. The humans are sneaking around the Decepticon base, avoiding detection. Motormaster and Hun-Gurrr bring a chained up Optimus to Serpentor's throne room where he's left alone with the Autobot. The two of them talk about Serpentor's goals of domination when suddenly an alert comes through saying that the prisoners have escaped, Optimus breaks free and goes to attack the much smaller despot.

The hostages are all free and are fighting off the Decepticons, whilst on Earth GI joe are preparing to send the back-up teams to Cybertron with weapons and vehicles to boot.

Optimus and Serpentor are fighting it out in the throne room, when Serpentor is rescued by the other Decepticons. During the battle Serpentor is damaged and the device Zartan planted on him earlier is removed. Optimus communicates with Hot Rod and tell shim the hostages are freed, so they can commence the attack, which they do with the newly arrived team of Joes. The Autobots and Joes fight the Decepticons outside the base in an all-out battle. Grimlock's team interrogate Runamuck to find out where Opitmus is.

Serpentor removes the Matrix from Optimus' chest and a beam of light is shot from the throne room for all to see.

Serpentor is reformatted into a fully Cybertronian body and now understands all the things he's done wrong and feels remorse. He goes to kill himself with Motormaster's gun, but the device from before activates and a virus infects him, allowing Cobra Commander to take control of his body from Earth. The Commander attacks the loyal Decepticons to show his power and then goes to attack Optimus as well. The former Hostages arrive in the room before it's too late and protect Optimus by attacking Serpentor/Commander, he's easily able to defeat them, though Arcee manages to tear off his chest, revealing the Matrix, but Optimus throws Hawk at "Serpentor", and Hawk touches the crystal inside the Matrix, releasing it's power and infusing it withing Hawk and Cobra Commander. Serpentor looses power and collapses. Hun-Gurrr gets up again and is about to kill Optimus, when Hot Rod and Lady Jaye arrive and kill him.

On Earth, Dr Knox finds Cobra Commander dead in his control harness. On Cybertron the Autobots are rebuilding the city and the Joes prepare to leave for Earth again, and everyone else recovers from the fight. A statue is made in honour of Bumblebee, and Arcee (in particular) mourns. Hawk has seen the future and keeps seeing future events playing out in front of him, and notes that he'd be honoured to record the events when they happen.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Perceptor

Arcee - Car

Bumblebee - VW Beetle Killed by Serpentor

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Hot Rod - Car

Sandstorm - Helicopter

Springer - Helicopter

Skids - Van

Omega Supreme - Base

Jetfire - Jet

Sideswipe - Car

Prowl - Police Car

Cliffjumper - Car

Warpath - Tank

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Tracks - Car

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Ratchet - Road Warrior Truck

Ironhide - Van

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Paradron Medic

Alpha Trion/A3 (Flashback)

Fortress Maximus (Vision)

Generic Autobots

Decepticon

Serpentor (Serpent O.R.) Killed by Matrix

Razorclaw - Lion

Rampage - Tiger

Tantrum - Bull

Headstrong - Rhino

Divebomb - Eagle

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt

Nautilator - Lobster Killed by Breakdown

Tentakil - Squid

Skalor - Coelacanth

Snaptrap - Snapping Turtle

Overbite - Shark

Seawing - Manta Ray

Piranacon - Seacon Gestalt

Motormaster - Truck

Dragstrip - Car

Wildrider - Car

Breakdown - Car

Dead End - Car

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt

Viewfinder

Spectro

Spyglass

Rippersnapper

Hun-Gurrr Killed by Lady Jaye

Shrapnel

Buzzsaw

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle

Sixshot - Jet Killed by Optimus Prime

Blitzwing - Jet

Onslaught

Octane

Overkill

Runamuck

Scourge - Space Shuttle

Sweeps - Space Shuttles

Trypticon

Blast Off

Brawl

Vortex

Barrage

Venom

Thrust

Megatron Decapitated in Area 52

Soundwave Decapitated in Area 52

Shockwave (Mentioned) Dead

GI Joe

Hawk

Scarlett

Roadblock

Snake-Eyes

Mainframe

Firewall

Sci-Fi

Quick Kick

Cover Girl

Beachhead

Tripwire

Stormshadow

Stalker

Lady Jaye

Barbecue

Dusty

Fast Draw

Flash

Rock 'N' Roll

Joe Battle Suits Destroyed by Serpentor

Sgt. Savage (Vision)

Cobra

Cobra Commander Killed by Matrix

Zartan

Zarana/Dr Wise

Baroness

Dr. Knox

BATS Destroyed by Joes and Grimlock's Team

SNAKES Destroyed by Joes and Grimlock's Team

Cobratron Destroyed by Joes and Grimlock's Team

Cobra Troops

Other

Prof. Martin

Prof. Li

Cannibalizers

Quintessons (Flashback)

Unicron (Flashback/Vision)

Optimus Primal (Flashback)

Nemesis Enforcer (Vision)

Cobra-La Royal Guard (Vision)

Iron Klaw (Vision)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Megatron seems to be still alive as he makes murmuring noises when the Area 52 team are messing round in his head, but since we never see him again after this series, let's just assume the Autobots put him out of his misery after this storyline.
• Firewall's coffee cup has Optimus Prime's face on it
• All the Transformers seen in this story have taken on their more commonly known character models rather than retaining their previous ones. This is notable for some character who took on Earth modes in the previous storyline, but now having different ones (ie Stunticons, Optimus, Bumblebee etc). Though weirdly Ratchet still has his Road Warrior mode....
• Serpentor remembers Cobra Commander from Megatron's memories of his time being trapped in gun mode in the Commander's hip.
• This story shows that at some point Optimus Primal existed in this continuity
• Serpentor's name is derived from "Serpent Organic Robot", with the serpent being in reference to the one who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.
• Whilst not really shown well here, it seems like Serpentor's attack on GI Joe in Area 52 led to the destruction of their Battle Suits
• Scarlett and Snake-Eyes are very much a couple in this story, she doesn't even care about his horrible scars under his mask
• Storm Shadow has joined GI Joe since the last story
• YAY! Bumblebee dies!!!
• Cybertron's populace seems to be made up mostly of generics
• Cobra Commander knows about Mindbender joining with Cobra-La
• Snake-Eyes can use his magic ninja powers to hypnotize robots...who knew?
• When Serpentor is infused with the Matrix and becomes truly Cybertronian he finally gains a consious and tries to kill himself (before Cobra Commander takes over control of his body)
• Cobra Commander refers to the Transformers as Glorified Go-Bots...that jerk
• Fort some reason the matrix's power doesn't kill Hawk, like it does to Cobra Commander
• Cybertron's capitol city is called "Capitol City" here, but it is most likely Iacon
• Hawk's visions of the future shows a representation of the next series, Black Horizon, and also another event that was likely going to be the basis for the 5th series, and also shows Hawk as a leader in a cape over an advanced society.
• Cobra Commander comments on GI Joe's file card photos, a major part of the toyline

DDP - GI Joe vs The Transformers II

Plot

Since the last time we saw them, Cobra has been reformed and has started selling Cybertronian technology to black market dealers etc, and have also been experimenting on their own troops. GI Joe has been working to counter them with their own Autobot-given battle suits.

GI Joe break up an arms deal between the Dreadnoks and some other guys and battle ensues, but the Joes manage to easily defeat the Cobra sub-group and take them prisoner. The next day, Cobra Commander visits Destro at his home in Portugal and informs him of a plan of his and Starscream's to send them to Cybertron to steal new technology to defeat GI Joe and conquer the world, and to use the transporter connected to Cybertron's Teletran-3 (created by Cobra with some parts found) as a teleporter to make them invincible etc. Destro agrees and one of his servants leaves, diving into the water behind the mansion, revealing him as GI Joe spy Chuckles, who warns the rest of the team about this plan.

On Cybertron Optimus is leading the Autobots as a resistance group against a Shcokwave-controlled Decepticon army, who rules over Cybertron.

Back on Earth GI Joe raid a warehouse in Boston where Cobra are just activating their transporter, linked to Teletran-3 where Lady Jaye accidentally shoots the device and causes an energy surge transporting everyone in the room to Cybertron, but upon being sent to the alien world Teletran-3 malfunctions and accidentally transports several Transformers at random into Earth's history. Shockwave comes with a small team of Decepticons to investigate and find the humans and Starscream, before they can kill them though Ultra Magnus and Perceptor break into the room, fight off the Decepticons and set up a force-field around the humans, themselves, Starscream and Teletran-3 and inform the humans about what has happened to the Transformers and ask for their help in retrieving them (because if they are left in their time-displaced locations then Earth will be destroyed as a result). The teams are being sent out in mixed groups of Cobra and GI Joe members and are sent into the past with tracers and disks to revive the Transformers, who would be mode-locked in that era. (There is an automatic recall set up by Teletran-3 for when all the displaced Transformers in an era are equipped with the disks).

The first team arrive in the 70's and almost immediately find Jazz, and then shortly followed by Bumblebee. They locate Hot Rod, but before he can be rescued he is stolen by a human. Jaye manages to trick the thief into a race bringing them to a hanger where the last Transformer, Blitzwing is being stored, both Transformers are revived at this point, but before Blitzwing can attack the others the whole group are recalled to the present day Cybertron. The second team arrive in 1937 and are almost run over by a gang-warring pair of cars.

The second team have arrived in New York in 1937 and narrowly avoid being run over by some gangsters and police cars, and they start their mission (all whilst Percy the Viper starts breaking down due to the situation). the group soon find Optimus Prime and Beachhead beats down the natives who were using him as a transport and also learns that someone called Tommy Fingers found this truck and that they keep the rest of them in his garage under a club. Optimus is revived soon afterwards and is caught up on the situation which he agrees to help deal with.

Back on Cybertron, the Decepticons are surrounding the Teletran-3 tower (on Shockwave's orders) whilst the humans and Autobots inside the force field  are worried about the mission, especially since the force field will collapse in about 6 hours times.

Back in 1937 the team have gone undercover into Tommy Fingers' club to gain access into his basement-garage. Baroness drugs Tommy and Roadblock beats up the guards, in the disguise of a musician. Inside, Optimus can't tell who the four cars inside are, and they're still missing one, who is transporting dynamite right now (which is dangerous if exploded, especially with this apocalypse thing happening too). Breakdown reveals that he's been fine all along an dtransforms, shooting Optimus and stealing the reactivation disks, placing them on his team-mates, who wake up as well.

Optimus and the humans drive off, forcing the Stunticons to chase him as they hunt down the last one, Motormaster. The Joes use their weapons to blast the Stunticons on a bridge, which injures and slows them, they then come across Motormaster, with his human passengers and dynamite. Baroness is sick of wasting time, so she shoots Motormaster, despite the dynamite and then slaps a disk on him. The group are returned to Cybertron, with Percy happy that he's still alive.

The third team arrive at their destination, the future, where Earth has been ruined...

On the future Earth (about 2034ish), the third team are hiding from the Sweeps scanning th rubble, the team use the tracerto learn there's only one Transformer from the present in this timeframe (which will be hard to find due to there being other Transformers there too). The group are found by the Sweeps, but are rescued by a group of aged Dreadnoks, who said that the others all died about 15 years earlier. The former Dreadnoks reveal that Shockwave led an army of Decepticons and conquered the planet on August 17th 2014 and most humans are now dead or captured. The team are taken to see Duke, who is now horribly scarred, implanted with cybernetics and in a wheelchair, who doesn't care about the past and the apocalypse and just has them all join up with his resistance. Torch however is fed up of this version of the future and wants to help them out by taking them to the Autobot they're looking for.

On Cybertron Shockwave and his Decepticons have started blasting the force field to try and burst it.

Back in the future the humans are heading to "the Autobot" as he's known to the resistance thanks to his own amnesia when they're attacked by a swarm of Insecticons, however Tomax and Xamot save the day by using their upgraded powers to blast them, and Torch uses a weapon designed to disorient Insecticons. The group run into a forest, where a Ravage clone army attacks them, but they're saved at the last moment by "the Autobot"...Ratchet!

Ratchet is told what happened, but he says that he has a mission to deal with first, the team from the past reluctantly agree to it, despite this future not even existing when they succeed. The group ambush the Decepticons guarding some human prisoners and Ratchet kills them violently, Ratchet decides he can't leave, however Barbecue takes the option to refuse away when he pushes a disk onto him, sending them all back to the present day.

The team return to modern day Cybertron, where ratchet is still angry, but before long he's shot in the back by Shockwave, knocking him out. Shockwave has taken down the force field and captured the Autobots. Tomax and Xamot link up to use their ability again, but Shockwave burns one of the twins to ash. The group are taken prisoner and Shockwave is gald about how Earth will burn if the fourth team is not recovered soon, he then reveals that most of the humans ran away when the Decepticons broke into the force field, and are now missing, and that he was responsible for the transporter on Earth somehow, in preparation for his future invasion...

On Cybertron the missing humans are hiding out from Shockwave, and Storm Shadow returns from a recon mission with his back scorched. He draws up a map of the route back to Teletran-3 and informs the rest that Shockwave has blocked the last group from returning so he can destroy Earth that way. The route up is full of sensors etc that detect metal, so Jaye and Roadblock strip to their underwear to break in through a shaft.

Cyclonus congratulates Shockwave on his plan to have the humans find the teleporter parts on Earth whilst the 2 Joes break in. Roadblock makes a distraction by grabbing a Decepticon's gun and setting it off whilst Jaye activates Teletran-3 and recalls the last team, along with the Dinobots!

The Dinobots immediately start tearing apart the Decepticons with their new, much more powerful bodies. The building starts to collapse around them, and Starscream escapes.

After a short battle, the Dinobots are victorious and the humans are freed from their cells and hiding places.

The next day Optimus and the others are back in their normal bodies and send the humans back home, with the promise that both sides must destroy their ends of this transporter system, so they can't cause this problem again.

Starscream is captured and taken to Shockwave's HQ where he begs for mercy, when suddenly Cobra Commander's voice comes from a recording on his body informing them all that Starscream has been outfitted with 45 pounds of plastic explosives, just as Starscream explodes, killing Shockwave and all the others gathered in the base.

Three Months later, Mindbender is in prison, but is taken out and taken for his expertise by Agent Kendall and Depree, at the base he finds two dead bodies (most likely the real Kendall and Dupree) and several Cobra-La agents greeting him and asking for his help in the upcoming arrival from Unicron....

Characters

Autobot
Optimus Prime - 30's Six Wheel Truck
Ultra Magnus
Perceptor
Ironhide
Wheeljack
Jazz - 70's Coupe
Bumblebee - 70's Ford Pinto
Hot Rod - 70's Ford Mustang Muscle Car
Ratchet - Road Warrior Truck
Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex
Swoop - Pteranodon
Slag - Triceratops
Snarl - Stegosaurus
Sludge - Apatosaurus
Junkions - Motorcycles (Future Only)

Decepticon
Shockwave - Ray Gun Killed in Explosion
Starscream - Blackbird Killed in Explosion
Cyclonus
Scourge - Space Shuttle
Ruckus
Venom
Ramjet - Cybertronian Jet
Dirge - Cybertronian Jet
Ravage/Generic with his design
Ratbat/Generic with his design
Frenzy/Generic with his design
Rumble/Generic with his design
Kickback
Octane
Buzzsaw
Divebomb
Blitzwing - 70's Commuter Plane
Dead End - 30's Car
Drag Strip - 30's Car
Wildrider - 30's Car
Breakdown - 30's Car
Motormaster - 30's Six Wheeled Truck
Menasor (Mentioned)
"Giant Decepticon" (Future Only)
Sweeps - Space Shuttles (Future Only)
Kickback Swarm - Locusts (Future Only)
Bombshell Swarm -Boll Weevils (Future Only)
Shrapnel Swarm - Stag Beetles (Future Only)
Ravage Clones (Future Only)
Reflector Trio (Future Only) Killed by Ratchet
"Decepticon Medic" Killed in Explosion
Generic Decepticons

GI Joe
Beachhead
Scarlett
Stalker
Chuckles/Wilson
Dialtone
Snake-Eyes
Lady Jaye
Cover Girl
Barbecue
Dusty
Shipwreck
Sci-Fi
Roadblock
Spirit
Jinx
Gung-Ho
Bazooka
Joe Battlesuits

Cobra
Cobra Commander
Destro
Baroness
Dr. Mindbender
Storm Shadow
Zartan
Tomax Killed by Shockwave
Xamot
Percy the Viper
Torch
Buzzer
Ripper
Iron Grenadiers
Cobra Vipers
Cobra-La
Pythona
Nemesis Enforcer
Royal Guards
"Agent Dupree"
"Agent Kendall"

Future Resistance
Torch
Buzzer
Ripper
Duke
Other
Teletran-3
Modern Day Mercenaries
Destro's Mansion Staff
70's People
1937 People
Tommy Fingers
Unicron (Mentioned and Effigies)

Notes

• The events of the previous series were 2 years ago
• Cobra's been using Cybertronian technology to create new weapons and even upgrade their troops with "powers" or built in weapons
• Starscream has been reduced to Cobra Commander's slave/captive since we last saw him
• The Transformers that returned to Cybertron 2 years earlier have reverted to Cybertronian modes instead of keeping their Cobra vehicle modes
• Jazz's Cybertronian robot mode looks a lot more black than it should...this isn't the case for his 70's mode though!
• Wheeljack is shown being zapped in to another timeframe, but is never seen being recovered, or even ever again! This means that either he was recovered "off-screen" or he was destroyed in the energy surge.
• Most Decepticons shown in this comic are generics who use random character modelsand colour schemes.
• The Transformers who were sent through time were mode-locked and converted into local era alternate modes, thus maintaining the timeline (except the potential apocalypse thing)
• Some of the Transformers don't seem to actually be mode-locked
• Percy is REALLY in the wrong line of work!
• Optimus wasn't actually drawn into this by accident like everyone else was, he dived into an energy stream to try and save Jazz
• Though it's mentioned that Menasor could be formed in this story, it's never seen...Imagine how cool a 1937 era Menasor would look though!!
• The Giant Decepticon based on Energon Scorponok from the dark future is only seen very briefly in this story, before being replaced by Scourge, The Sweeps, Insecticons and Ravage clones just afterwards
• The Future Dreadnoks use motorcycles based on the Junkions...they might actually be them, so I'll say they are!! BWHAAHH!!
• The Ratchet of the future is amnesiac for some unknown reason, possibly due to the method of time travel
• Tomax is shown being killed by Shockwave in this story, but in a later story he's listed as having been captured...hmmm....
• It should be mentioned here that Storm Shadow is shown being taken care of by Cover Girl, and then by the next storyline he's joined the Joes...coincidence?
• By the day after the main events of this comic the Transformers have reverted to their normal Cybertronian modes...seems a bit pointless to have done that straight away (except the Dinobots of course, who are seen in their Dino-modes in the next story)
• The Decepticon Medic seen in this story seems to use Ratchet's normal G1 character model as a basis
• The location Mindbender is taken to at the end would likley be near the Himalayas, since that's where Cobra-La is as well.
• Dupree and Kendall are most likely Royal Guards in disguise or something as the two dead corpse-like things look pretty human and are otherwise unexplained really.

DDP - GI Joe vs The Transformers

Plot

Cobra Commander leads a team of his new terrorist group, Cobra on a mission and finds a crashed space shuttle named the Ark, full of deactivated robots, the Transformers. The group investigate the robots, and one of them wakes up very briefly to announce that he still functions.

A short time later the military is patrolling the area around the Peace Talks happening in the area, to defend it against protesters  when suddenly Cobra attacks with their strange new vehicles. The military try to stop them, but are easily over powered by the machines, even more so when they start turning into giant robots, piloted by Cobra agents as well. The terrorists leave after leaving their mark on the media and military, and Snake Eyes' face is horribly burned during the attack.

A while later General Flagg calls in Lady Jaye, Flint and Hawk and announced that they're to set up a new group to combat Cobra, called G.I. Joe, with Hawk as their leader.

On Cobra Island in the Caribbean, Cobra are maintaining the robots, with the Commander complaining about how Optimus Prime won't respond well to his orders for terrorism and seems to be fighting the control systems.

A now bandaged up, and voluntarily mute Snake-Eyes joins the new Joe team along with several others. Meanwhile in a city Bumblebee and Wheeljack, who managed to avoid being captured by Cobra, by being in another part of the ship are beginning to hunt down their comrades to try and rescue them from themselves.

On Cobra Island, Mindbender is examining Optimus, and hooks him into the main computers, however Optimus manages to upload a virus into the computer and deactivates himself as well. Cobra Commander isn't happy.

Mainframe, at NSA HQ is made aware of some new developments and end sup joining the now growing Joe team. Mercer, a former Cobra agent joins a well, and debriefs the team on what the robots are...sentient aliens, and also reveals that he knows where the Cobra army is going to strike next.

Destro arrives at Cobra Island to inspect the development of the BAT's (the Transformers) with Cobra Commander showing off his skills at commanding Starscream's body. Destro is shown around and shown the robots they've managed to refit, and even Soundwave and his menagerie

Destro is impressed with the Transformers and other machines created, including new battle suits called SNAKES, and explain that they've designed the smaller cassettes who come with Soundwave can be controlled from him as well. Destro decides that he wants to pilot the Soundwave module to attack the SPS center (the next target for their plan), and the Commander reluctantly agrees.

At Joe HQ Flint and Jaye are watching a news report about an image of a Transformer appearing in Emails worldwide, with strange writing accompanying it (which is what Mainframe saw before). A meeting is held, with the Joes planning the defense of the SPS center, which thanks to Mercer is known to be the next target by Cobra.

Cobra and their controlled Transformers approach the center from the sky, but are attacked by the Joes from the ground, who easily take out Frenzy and Ratbat. Laserbeak infiltrates the building, but is shortly taken down by Snake Eyes, whilst the others fight outside. Before Sideswipe and Sunstreaker can ram into the building in their STINGER modes, they are knocked away by Wheeljack, who appears from no-where, and Bumblebee, who starts taking down Rumble and some others, protecting the Joes.

Inside the center, Mutt, Junkyard and Quick Kick are attacked by Zartan and are knocked unconcious, whilst he walks into the control room, whilst Firefly sets explosives inside the building. Outside, Bumblebee and Wheeljack are mistaken for more Cobra Mechs, even when defending the Humans, but Sci-Fi explains that they're good.

Quick Kick and Mutt wake up inside the base to see Zartan escaping and are distracted by Ravage, whilst the rest of Cobra escape, having gained control of the SPS. Ravage leaves and the base explodes, catching Quick Kick and Mutt (who survive somehow) in the blast, but everyone else escapes in time.

Bumblebee and Wheeljack "surrender" to the Joes, so they can join forces and even bring some of the dead Decepticons with them as a piece offering. Wheeljack is shown the image of Soundwave that was distributed and translates the writing as coordinates and says that there's a virus implanted as well, all sent by Optimus, whilst still deactivated, which Wheeljack activates and revives all the Transformers back to sentience.

On Cobra Island the Constructicons, who were being ordered by Mindbender to build something suddenly wake up and turn on the human, tear the place apart. Mindbender calls the Commander to announce this event, whom is dealing with his own problems, as Optimus is staring at him from the window...

The Transformers on Cobra Island are running amok and are attacking the Cobra warriors who have been using them as tools. Soundwave goes looking for Megatron. Optimus tears off the window to Cobra Commander's office and tells him he's going to take him to the authorities. The Commander tries to use Megatron as a gun, but he refuses to fire for him, forcing him to release Megatron from his mode-lock and allowing him to fight Optimus himself.

The Autobots on the island start to wake up too, and try to look for Optimus for help. Major Bludd tries to leave the island on a Rattler, but sadly he chose to ride in Skywarp, who transforms and squishes him inside his cockpit.

The Joes and Autobots prepare to leave for Cobra Island, but are greeted by some Generals who inform them that they've decided to nuke the island instead and that they're supposed to disable the Autobots they have already. Hawk does so, unhappily, but Wheeljack warns Hawk that using Nukes on the island will be catastrophic, as Cobra must be manufacturing Energon to power the Transformers, and if the two substances react, it'll cause a Nuclear Winter, and all life will be wiped off the planet.

Optimus and Megatron fight on the Island, but both are soon joined by the rest of their armies, with Starscream even trying to take leadership from Megatron once more. Cobra Commander tries to leave the island on a boat, but Brawn and Gears destroy the boat, however before they can deal with the Human, Storm Shadow appears and distracts them. Elsewhere Rumble chases Zartan and Destro through the forest, but is crushed by Baroness in her SNAKE armour, and suggests the two others get inside some armour as well.

Elsewhere, the Constructicons are torturing Mindbender, but Soundwave tells them to keep him alive, as Megatron needs him to help run the SPS system so they can use the energy to create more Energon. In Washington, the Generals are informed the GI Joe have disobeyed their orders and are heading to Cobra Island, with the 2 Autobots as well.

The Joes and 2 Autobots arrive at Cobra Island and find it an absolute warzone, with robots and Cobra agents fighting all across it. The Joes join the battle and start fighting the ones who seem to be Decepticons and Cobra agents. In Washington, the order for the nuking, even with the Joes on the Island is still being discussed.

Megatron and his Decepticons have taken control of he SPS controls and begin using it to create Energon to fuel them to victory. The Constructicons combine into Devastator during the battle and kill Hound, leading to him being focused on by the other combatants. Elsewhere, Snake Eyes locates Starscream, slashes his eye open and plants a grenade inside it, leading to Starscream falling down a waterfall.

The Autobots regroup with Optimus, who decides that they need to go to the fight before the Decepticons and Cobra can succeed in their use of the SPS. The Autobots take on the Cobra agents in their SNAKE armour, whilst Cobra Commander runs for his life, again.

Optimus smashes into the SPS building and easily takes out Soundwave, Ravage and the Reflector Trio, and then chases Megatron into the main Island.

The Joes and Autobots have defeated Devastator, but receive word from Flagg that the generals have decided to Nuke the island after all, and there's no way for them to get to safety in time.

The Nukes are launched, but Mianframe gets an idea on how to stop them, he and a team, including Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Sci-Fi head to the SPS control building where they find Mindbender hiding under the controls. They begin to redirect the SPS to destroy the Nukes before they detonate, when Storm Shadow and his team break in. Bumblebee, Wheeljack and some of the Joes fight them off, just as the science guys succeed and destroy the Nukes. Unfortunately a random blast from a Cobra agent hits the controls, and causes the SPS to start firing at random, taking down several combatants.

During the random firing Cobra Commander finds Starscream, who asks the human to help him with the grenade, in exchange to helping him off the island.

The Joes find Megatron and start fighting him, but the SPS blasts are making things much harder, one of the blasts kills Mercer and burns off one of Megatron's arms (his energon weapon arm) which distracts him enough that the Joes can injure him. Optimus joins the fight and manages to defeat Megatron and takes his gun, loads it up with some of the SPS Energon and aims for the satellite, destroying it in orbit.

Two weeks later the Autobots are preparing to leave Earth on a new Ark, built with the help of the Joes to hopefully return home (if Cybertron even exists). The Autobots have helped the Joes by building them Battle Suits to combat Cobra's ones. The Autobots leave and hope to see their human allies again one day. In the Florida Keys Cobra Commander and Starscream are stuck with each other and try to rebuild Cobra. In New Mexico, Megatron, Soundwave and some of the other dead Decepticons are being kept disassembled in a lab, being examined by some humans....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Red HISS Tank

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - HISS Tank

Ratchet - HISS Tank

Jazz - Cobra STUN

Mirage - FERRET ATV

Sunstreaker - Cobra STINGER

Sideswipe - Cobra STINGER

Trailbreaker - Cobra STINGER

Beachcomber - Cobra STINGER

Gears - Cobra Flight Pod

Brawn - Cobra Flight Pod

Prowl - Firebat

Bluestreak - Firebat

Hound - Jeep

Cliffjumper

Cosmos

Other Autobots

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol Defeated by Optimus Prime

Starscream - Blackbird

Soundwave Killed by Optimus Prime

Laserbeak - Cassette Killed by Snake Eyes

Ravage - Cassette Killed by Optimus Prime

Rumble - Cassette Killed by Baroness (in SNAKE)

Frenzy  - Cassette Killed by Sci-Fi

Ratbat - Cassette Killed by GI Joe

Skywarp - Cobra RATTLER Killed by SPS

Thundercracker - Cobra RATTLER Killed by SPS

A Conehead - Cobra RATTLER Killed by SPS

Spectro Killed by Optimus Prime

Viewfinder Killed by Optimus Prime

Spyglass Killed by Optimus Prime

Hook - Crane Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Long Haul - Dump Truck Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Scrapper - Front End Loader Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Scavenger - Excavator Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots, as Devastator

Devastator - Gestalt Defeated by GI Joe and Autobots

Other Decepticons

GI Joe

Hawk

General Flagg

Flint

Lady Jaye

Duke

Snake Eyes

Stalker

Cover Girl

Breaker

Dial Tone 

Flash

Scarlett

Doc

Gung Ho

Sci-Fi

Mainframe

Mutt In Critical Condition

Junkyard Killed in SPS Center Explosion

Quick Kick

Mercer Killed by SPS

Ace

Wild Bill

Blowtorch

Spirit

Life Line

Clutch

Leatherneck

Barbecue 

Roadblock

Shipwreck

Rock 'N Roll

Bazooka

Barrel Roll

Spike (on Sheet)

Battle Suits

Other Joes

Cobra

Cobra Commander

Baroness

Destro

Dr. Mindbender

Zartan

Firefly

Storm Shadow

Wild Weasel

Major Bludd Killed by Skywarp

Diamond Back

Tele-Vipers

S.N.A.K.E.S.

Iron Grenadiers

Cobra Troops

Other Humans

General Renegar

General Horn

General Frankel

General Izzo

General Lane

President of US

Army Members

NSA Staff

Peace Talk Representatives

Protesters

Area 52 Staff

Michael (NSA)

Mr Mitchell (USS Kohler)

Snake Eyes' Family (Mentioned) Killed in Cobra attack

Other

Teletran-One (Mentioned)

Notes

• The Transformers have been reformatted into Cobra vehicles, with some obvious exceptions, like Bumblebee, Wheeljack, the Constructicons and Megatron
• Some of the transformers aren't in their normal colours, opting for traditional Cobra vehicle colours instead, which makes identifying characters a bit harder (ie Thundercracker and Skywarp are both blue, Starscream is black and so on, even though it was fine for Optimus to remain red, unlike the usual HISS tanks.
• This storyline is separate to the main GI Joe storyline that was happening at the same time as this comic, and thus gives a new origin for the team. Such as Snake-Eyes' family being killed during the initial Cobra attack.
• Spike Witwicky is given as the name of one of the GI Joe recruits (with the imaginative call-sign of Spike)
• Some deaths in this comic would seem to be reversed by the next storyline and others, such as with the Cassettes in particular
• In this series Rumble is the blue one
• Junkyard (Mutt's doggie) seems to have been killed in this storyline by Cobra (BASTARDS!)
• Also in a similar vein, it looks like Mutt and Quick Kick are killed here, but much like in the GI Joe movie, their deaths were changed to "coma" or injured
• All the Transformers insignias are replaced with Cobra ones (at least the ones who were captured anyway) except Megatron
• Apparently Energon and Nuclear weapons don't mix too well, and would cause a Nuclear Winter if detonated together (of course in Rescue Bots these two substances were put together in the season one finale double, and didn't cause a bad reaction to the area)
• When Optimus punches through Soundwave's chest he notes that he won't die from his injuries (most likely another "fix" like with the Mutt and Quick Kick thing) but this seems pointless as he's dissected by the end of the story
• Cobra Commander and Starscream, who have both shared a voice actor in many continuities both team up together by the end of this story
• The only GI Joe or Autobot who seems to be killed by the random laser-fire from the SPS seems to be Mercer, compared to the dozens of Decepticons who shared his fate (maybe the good guys are being looked after by Primus?)
• Before leaving for Cybertron on the new Ark, Optimus changes his Cobra insignia for an Autobot one...but doesn't take on a new alternate mode....
• The end of this story with the Decepticons being stored in Area 52 is of course fore-shadowing to the events of The Art of War (the 3rd series of this crossover)
• Bumblebee and Wheeljack use Mirage's hologram emitters to create their holo-drivers.
• Cobra found 37 Transformers on the Ark
• Human's can't stay inside the Transformers during Transformation (as shown with Major Bludd)
• Starscream having an explosive device planted into his eye is a plot reused in DOTM