IDW - Transformers: Windblade #4

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Corin Howell

Colours by: Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On the outskirts of Metroplex the Decepticons and the newly arrived Camiens are having an almost violent argument over the Decepticons daring to use energy from the sacred Titan to power their shanty town. Windblade is forced to leave as she has to meet with some delegates from Velocitron, leaving Chromia to solve the situation alone, without resorting to violence this time.

Windblade arrives at the meeting twenty minutes late, but tries to make it up to Knock Out and Moonracer from the newly found colony. After a quick tour and explanation of how the Council of Worlds will work, Knock Out declines their offer for membership since Velocitron is a closed society, and have enough Energon and energy sources in general to last them, so they leave. Windblade catches up with them, and invites them to a party at Blurr's bar before they go.

The three of them arrive at the bar where they are introduced to fellow racer Blurr, who whips them up some drinks. Windblade explains to Moonracer that the Cybertronians need to have the colony worlds join with them so they can rebuild without the history of factions, and the colonies can expand and return to Cybertron to help themselves too.

Following this, Knock Out sits with Blurr and the two talk about racing, with Knock Out not believing that Blurr could be as fast as he claims to be, and Moonracer goes socializing with the other patrons.

After a while, Windblade sits with Moonracer, where Moonracer explains that life on Velocitron is very stunted, and that only racing is important, and she worries that their entire way of life is getting smaller every year. Moonracer reveals that there's an open race the next day, and if they can win, they could present the proposal for the Council of Worlds to the planet's leaders without fail. Whilst Moonracer cannot officially invite them, she does give Windblade her comm-link frequency, so they can meet up when/if they come to Velocitron to win. Knock Out and Moonracer return to Velocitron following this.

Later, Windblade, Chromia, Wheeljack and Ironhide enter Metroplex's brain chamber, where Wheeljack gets the coordinates for Velocitron from Metroplex's records, and Metroplex gives Windblade some information on Velocitron, and how they were originally scientists who wanted to develop superior energy sources, resulting in them becoming obsessed with using that energy to become faster. Windblade finds Blurr and invites him along for the trip to Velocitron, considering his past as a great racer.

Rattrap lets Windblade and the others, minus Wheeljack, who runs the bridge, through the portal. The group arrive on the planet and find it freezing cold, and deserted, except for a large set of track-marks. Suddenly Chromia looks behind her and realizes why the planet uses moving cities, rather than stationary ones, as a city is driving towards them, followed by a cloud of fire!

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Blurr - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Race Car

Slug - Triceratops

Metroplex - City/Space Ship

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Photo Only)

Jazz - Car (Photo Only)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Photo Only)

Decepticon

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Waspinator - Wasp

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Angry Decepticons

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Badgeless Officers

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Mentioned) In Custody

Camien

Lightbright

Camien Migrants

Velocitronian

Knock Out - Car

Moonracer - Car

Override (Flashback)

Crumplezone (Flashback)

Ransack (Flashback)

TFA Bumblebee Mold (Flashback)

Random Velocitronians - Cars (Flashback)

Navitas - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Knock Out's Conjunx Endura (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronians

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Notes

• Following the end of Combiner Wars, the series has now moved onto a colony-exploring storyline
• The dialogue shows that Devastator is still in custody in this issue, meaning this is set just before the events of Robots in Disguise #42. This would also imply that the planet Windblade and Chromia were returning from may have been Velocitron following this storyline.
• Lightbright and Sparkstalker appear to have started dating....awwwww
• The Camiens have started building new constructs outside of Metroplex...hopefully this means they can start to live outside of the Titan before long!
• Knock Out, fully seen here, if a direct reference to his Prime series counterpart...so yeah, you can put those Prime Knock Outs on the CHUG shelf now!
• The "Part 4" part of the "Not the End of the World" party most likely follows the parties after the Decepticon riots in Iacon, the party they had after the Necrotitan died, the presumed party after the death of Shockwave, and now for the resolution of the Combiner Wars (even though the Combiner Wars didn't really affect Cybertron itself too much)
• Looking at the revelation in MTMTE that Caminus prioritizes the arts, and Velocitron prioritizing racing as the only worthwhile things, it seems like Functionism evolved on those planets too!
• Knock Out's unnamed Conjunx Endura, mentioned by Moonracer here was confirmed to be based on Prime Breakdown by Mairghread Scott, so yeah, it's canon now!
• Override, Crumplezone and Ransack, as seen in Moonracer's explanation are based on their Cybertron counterparts. The other robot with them looks like he's based on Animated Bumblebee's Earth character model, which makes sense considering his need for speed too.
• If we continue the assumption that the Knights of Cybertron are also the Thirteen Primes, then it seems that the Velocitronians, being originally scientists may have been preceded by Alchemist Prime.

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #42

Title: The Frail Gaze

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On board the Vis Vitalis, Nautica dances with Skids in private, so she can show that she CAN dance, but doesn't want to do it in public as she's shy. Skids is happy with the arrangement too, since he's learning the dances too through his special skill. The two talk about how Nautica and Firestar were basically forced to be friends, and they don't really seem to like each other. Before they can really continue though, Skids collapses, and the invisible aliens start appearing on the dance floor, Skids is too weak to fight them, and Nautica isn't a good fighter, so they are soon swarmed by the aliens.

In the Morgue, Nightbeat is analysing the aliens whilst fighting them off, along with Getaway, they are over-run by them, until Ravage appears and saves them. Nightbeat quickly examines Photon's corpse again, and sees the same eggs on his face as they found on Countdown and Getaway, and they escape.

In the Medibay, the aliens have appeared there too, and are fought off by the Autobots. Velocity throws some machinery at the aliens, causing a load noise, causing Firestar and Skystalker to investigate. Upon entering the room, Skystalker is ripped in half by one of the aliens, instantly killing him. Thunderclash wakes up from his death bed, and fights off the aliens, telling the others to escape whilst he sacrifices himself for the greater good. His self-less deed causes the ticks some pain, which Velocity notes whilst the group escapes.

On the dancefloor, Nautica manages to wriggle free from the pile of aliens crushing the two of them, and plugs herself into a recharge socket, causing the attached, and organic aliens to die from electrocution.

Nautica and Skids escape, but manage to run into the other Autobots, allowing them to lock themselves into a room whilst they figure out what's happening.

Nightbeat examines the rest of the crew and finds the eggs on Skids. Firestar notes that everyone who seems to be affected all have charisma, causing Nightbeat to identify them as Personality Ticks, whom he'd only thought of as myth before now. The Camiens picked them up when they visited Planet Marasma, before joining the Vis Vitalis, their pilot Vertex died from their effects, and then infected Thunderclash and the others since then. Velocity realizes that one of the aliens must have made themselves visible for long enough to heal up Thunderclash, so they could feed off him for longer, thus explaining why she couldn't remember her properly afterwards.

Nightbeat starts to formulate a plan to defeat the Ticks when suddenly they rush the door and smash it down, forcing the Autobots to fend for their lives. All of a sudden though, they all fall down dead, as Rodimus and Megatron suddenly appear from behind them.

Later, on the Lost Light, First Aid repairs Skids, Getaway and Thudnerclash from their wounds, and it is revealed that the Ticks died from overloading on the combined charisma of Megatron and Rodimus, which was Nightbeat's idea, but he wonders why they turned up BEFORE he even sent the message. Magnus reveals that Skater, Borer and Flex were the ones to call Rodimus, when they deduced the situation BEFORE Nightbeat did, they were just less showy about it. Magnus mentions that Thunderclash is now joining the crew since his old war wound is healed now, the Matrix map was destroyed, but Thunderclash still has some memories of parts of it, giving them SOME progress at least.

At Shuttle Bay Four, Firestar and Nautica say goodbye. Firestar, now a bit more modest and shaken after the death of Skystalker and the Personality Tick's abilities decides to return to Caminus, taking the now unneeded Vis Vitalis with them. She offers to sever her friendship with Nautica, since they both know they aren't a good match, however Nautica refuses, saying that their differences are what makes them a good match.

Later at Swerve's, the crew are having an "Earth Dance" with Blaster as the DJ and the crew dancing their problems away. During the party, Tailgate has Blaster play "The Power of Love", Cyclonus' new favourite song, and offers to dance with him. However before he can join him, Getaway starts dancing with Tailgate instead.

During the dance, Velocity turns up, and reveals that Firestar convinced her to join the Lost Light as well, much to Nautica's delight.

Skids compliments Swerve on the party and it's success, and Swerve declares his work is done...causing him to fade away and disappear, leaving the glass he was glass to smash onto the floor!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper 

Thunderclash - Truck

Nightbeat - Car

Getaway - Car

First Aid - Ambulance

Skids - Van

Nautica - Submarine

Velocity - Race Car

Firestar - Jet

Skystalker - Jet Killed by Personality Tick

Proxima

Roadmaster

Photon - Race Car Killed by Personality Ticks

Skater - Hydrofoil

Borer

Flex

Bluestreak - Car

Swerve - Van Mysteriously Vanishes

Hound - Jeep

Chromdome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Blaster - Acoustic Tank

Tailgate - Car

Rung

Riptide - Boat

Huffer - Truck

Atomizer

Brainstorm - Jet

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Mentioned)

Chromia - Speedbike (Mentioned)

Countdown (Mentioned) Killed by Personality Ticks

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Mentioned)

Ravage - Cassette

Other Cybertronian/Camien

Cyclonus - Jet

Ten

Chopper - Helibot (Mentioned)

Vertex (Mentioned) Killed by Personality Ticks

Other

Personality Ticks Killed by Rodimus and Megatron's Charisma

Notes

• Swerve's special recap page returns again this issue
• It's revealed here that on Caminus it is deemed important to be skilled in an artform, rather than manual skills etc.
• It is also revealed that Camiens are required to have an Amica Endura (best friend), or they are deemed as social outcasts. They are also seen the same way if they break up one of those friendships. This could be why Windblade and Chromia are still hanging out despite Chromia's actions in the first Windblade mini-series.
• It's revealed that Ravage was overheating last issue, due to him knowing that someone could see him, but he couldn't see them.
• Skystalker appears here, but is quickly torn in half by the net panel....YAY!
• Despite his apparent Rigor-Morphis and death colours, Thunderclash was able to hep defend the others during the attack on the medibay.
• Despite them clearly having alternate modes, with Velocity's being very obviously a race car, neither she or Firestar transform when escaping the Ticks, even though the other Autobots DID.
• Speaking about that, we see enough of her body here to assume that Firetsar turns into a jet.
• Like I thought last issue, the Ticks are attracted to successful bots, who emit charisma for their fuel.
• Nautica mentioned that Firestar's flame changed colour since the last time she saw her, it is revealed here that it is because of the different fuel she is using now.
• Nautica reveals that Innermost Energon is highly explosive when heated up.
• This issue continues the theme of the main characters not saving the day all the time, with three random, unseen characters saving the day this issue, rather than the main cast.
• Roadmaster and Proxima make a VERY brief appearance setting up a shuttle for take-off towards the end of the comic
• Getaway's expression when he is dancing with Tailgate is VERY creepy.
• I think Nautica's replaced Brainstorm with Skids as her new best friend on the ship.
• Swerve completing a mission and then disappearing at the end of the comic is a reference to Quantum Leap. Whether this is meant to be a joke for his character, or a future plot point has yet to be revealed.
• Thunderclash's Matrix map was destroyed during the battle in the medibay, but he's joined the Lost Light crew along with Velocity, so that's progress still!
• Firestar is revealed to have lied about her being the 2nd in command of the ship, and having saved Thunderclash's life.
• Since we've seen no Circle of Light members on the Vis Vitalis, I'm guessing this means they didn't join with Thunderclash as they planned to after "Remain in Light"
• Assuming Thunderclash was the one to Autobrand them, like he was with Nautica and the others, I'm guessing that Vertex died before she was Autobranded 

IDW - Transformers #42

Title: Combiner Wars Epilogue: Now and On Earth

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli & Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Livio Ramondelli & Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Arcee is communicating with Optimus from Earth, he tells her aboout the recent battles, and that Starscream has attempted to rehabilitate Devastator by having him hellp protect the Spacebridge etc (under heavy guard of course). He asks why Arcee didn't tell him about Prowl and his actions with the Enigma on Earth, she says she tried to keep him on mission to contain the Enigma, but he went rogue. She then learns from Optimus that Prowl is being detained, under his custody. Arcee asks what he plans to do with Prowl, to which Optimus has no answer.

Arcee ends the call in a swamp on Earth, where she meets up with Galvatron, and he asks her to tell him what happened on Cybertron with the Enigma.

On Cybertron, Optimus releases Prowl from his binds, and Prowl acknowledges that his actions attacking the Spacebridge were wrong, not because of the moral reasons, but because he was arrested for it afterwards. Optimus punches Prowl in the face, knocking him down.

Arcee finishes explaining what happened to Galvatron, and reveals that Cybertron has made contact with the Colony Worlds again through the Spacebridges. Galvatron brings up that Arcee's ship has a Spacebridge now, which she immediately tells him he can't use it, but he simply says that HE won't be the one to use it....

Optimus and Prowl fight it out, resulting in Optimus punching Prowl out of a window, and pummelling his old friend, telling him that it's his fault he's been driven to doing this.

Back on Earth, Galvatron gives Arcee one of Blackrock's Onyx tablets, suggesting that Blackrock's access to Cybertronian technology,, it may be worth looking into it's workings, since the Decepticons under his command aren't exactly scientifically minded. Galvatron asks Arcee to send an Autobot to investigate the human's work on the Jupiter Decepticon commune, as he wants to look into it for Soundwave's sake, but can't risk the Humans thinking he doesn't trust them like this.

Optimus and Prowl continue their fight, with Prowl renouncing all his old friends as having betrayed him, and claims that all he's done has been for the good of Cybertron itself.

Arcee returns to Ark-7, near Earth, and gives Jetfire the tablet to analyse, and tells Cosmos she has a mission for him.

On Cybertron, again, Optimus manages to win the fight, by pushing Prowl off of a bridge, and crippling him, he tells Prowl to stay down as he trains his gun at his old friend. Prowl tells Optimus that he will never be out of Optimus' mind now, since they were once combined, the same way he is with the Constructicons now, and tells him that whatever happens, Optimus will eventually take down Starscream, and destroy Megatron, all because he is in his mind now. Optimus thinks about this, and says that his loyalty is to peace, and he cannot kill Prowl, but he also knows that Prowl is too dangerous to live, so he asks him what HE would do in his place, only to find Prowl gone....

Jetfire finishes his analysis of the tablet, and surprisingly finds some Ancient Cybertronian source coding inside it. Arcee tells Jetfire to decode the device and see what the coding does, and tells Cosmos to go to Jupiter for his mission.

Back on Cybertron, it is revealed that Rattrap was the one who "rescued" Prowl from Optimus, all because he knows that at some point his involvement in causing the Combiner Wars will be discovered, and he needs Prowl to help ensure his victory....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Arcee - Sports Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Cosmos - Orbiter

Sky-Lynx - Space Shuttle

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt (Mentioned)

Aerialbots (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Mentioned)

United Cybertron

Rattrap - Rat

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Scoop - Front End Loader (Mentioned)

Costructicons (Mentioned)

Human

Garrison Blackrock (Mentioned)

Other

D.O.C.

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Defensor is no where to be seen in this issue, possibly meaning the Protectobots did return to the Lost Light following the Combiner Wars.
• Arcee's new stealth paint scheme is based on her upcoming "Combiner Hunters" toy
• Whilst unconfirmed, it looks like Astrotrain is now sporting his currently unofficially announced "Titan Wars" toy
• FINALLY! Optimus is now taking the Prowl issue to hand!
• Galvatron's comments about someone using the Spacebridge possibly hints at her role in the upcoming "Combiner Wars" one shot comic, along with Windblade and Chromia.
• Astrotrain's bad eyes, revealed in Dark Cybertron are brought up again here, with him using binoculars again.
• D.O.C. is revealed to be named after his memory system "Dynamic Zer-Phase Chalcogenide" and is revealed to be just a tool, despite his apparent sentience.
• The Onyx Network is revealed to use Ancient Cybertronian source code. This sort of makes sense since the Enigma of Combination, an ancient artefact of Nexus Prime, was in their possession. This could of course mean they have more old technology too.
• Prowl's mistaken renaming of other characters as "Scrapper" is revealed to be due to the combiner mindset "infecting" his mind with Scrappper's memories too (despite Devastator being an imperfect combiner before Prowl's inclusion and after Scrapper's death)

IDW - Transformers: Windblade #3

Title: Combiner Wars Part 5

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Story by: Mairghread Scott & John Barber

Pencils by: Marcelo Ferreira & Corin Howell

Inks by: Corin Howell, Brian Shearer & John Wycough

Colours by: Yamaishi [Coordination: Phases] & Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

The combined form of Optimus and the others walk through the Spacebridge  and tries to take control of the other combiners, but suddenly he starts to malfunction, since the component parts aren't able to unite their minds. Devastator attacks the newcomer, seeing him his replacement as Prowl's team. The two Autobot combiners hold off the Decepticons, and defends Optimus and the others.

Back at the Spacebridge control room on Cybertron, Windblade and Wheeljack hold their ground against the Decepticons, but are saved in the end when Stasrcream appears ans shoots Swindle right through the chest. A quick fight starts off, and Wheeljack manages to stabilize the Spacebridge enough to set the coordinates to Caminus, allowing Chromia and the others to come through and help in the battle. The Decepticons surrender and has them arrested. Wheeljack reports that the Spacebridge is still damaged, and starts working on repairing it.

Rattrap secretly talks to the dying Swindle, who reveals that he knew he was dead the moment Starscream arrested him before. He reveals that he has proof of his deal with Starscream to attack Caminus. Starscream appears behind them, where Rattrap claims that Swindle, who has now died, had done so before he even hit the floor...

On the colony world, the new combiner is still catatonic whilst the other combiners fight to defend him. Inside it's mind, Optimus and the others speak to Prowl, and make him realise that his way is wrong, and his views of the world using numbers and facts is flawed. Prowl finally understands this, allowing his mind to merge with the others, and not trying to control it. the combiner is complete again.

The new combiner joins the battle and manages to turn the tide. On Cybertron, the Spacebridge is repaired enough to work again, and Defensor manages to come through with Menasor subdued, however Optimus fights with Devasatator through the Spacebridge, appearing in various places through the portals, causing damage in each new location, eventually returning to Cybertron, where the Autobot combiners gang up on Devastator and force him to separate. 

Starscream has the Constructicons and Scoop placed under arrest...at least until they can figure out how to control Devastator. The new combiner, who now identifies as Optimus Maximus, separates and surrenders Prowl over to Starscream with no resistance. Superion mourns the "death" of Optimus Maximus with Prowl's arrest.

Before long, things are starting to get back to normal, the Council of Worlds is founded, and Rattrap is named as Cybertron's representative, Prowl is arrested, but Optimus comes to visit him, to show him that there is still hope.

However, all is not okay in the universe, on Velocitron and Eukaris the colonists investigate the damage caused by the Combiner Wars and report their findings to their leaders.

In distant space, a spaceship is flying around, and Obsidian reports that the signals from the Spacebridge that opened earlier match Cybertron, which pleases his leader, Elita One, on her throne made of dead Cybertronians......

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Ironhide - Van

Mirage - Race Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Wheeljack - Race Car

Chromia - Speedbike

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Defensor - Protectobot Gestalt

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Waspinator - Wasp

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Cargo Plane/Oil Tanker

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt Presumably Arrested

Scrapper - Front End Loader (MISTAKE!) Arrested

Generic Decepticons Arrested

Unaligned Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Swindle - Van Killed by Starscream

Devastator - Constructicon and Scoop Gestalt Arrested

Scoop - Front End Loader Arrested

Long Haul - Dump Truck Arrested

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck Arrested

Hook - Crane Arrested

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer Arrested

Scavenger - Excavator Arrested

Badgeless Officers

Caminus

Mistress of Flame

Yellow Leader

Red Leader

Other Colonists

Elita One

Obsidian

Moonracer - Car

Knock Out - Car

Airazor

Tigatron

Override (Mentioned)

Other

Spike Witwicky (In Prowl's Eyes)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Statues)

Notes

• Unlike the rest of Combiner Wars, this issue has no subtitle visible (most likely this will be added for the trade version)
• The army of Decepticons that Swindle gathered last issue have been replaced by generics here.
• Also, Swindle appears to have been coloured in Constructicon colours rather than his normal ones.
• The dead Scrapper is seen amongst the Constructicons and Scoop after their de-combination...this is almost certainly a mistake and not him being revived.
• Elita One's throne made of dead Cybertronian parts seems to be a reference to the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones, it could also be a reference to the throne made of Autobot parts from the G1 cartoon episode Triple Takeover.
• It's not shown here, but it's likely that Menasor's components were arrested too
• Each of the three Lost Colonies shown here introduces one new female Transformer.

RID - Sideswipe vs Thunderhoof

Plot

Sideswipe and Strongarm are driving along a road when they start arguing and have an impromptu play-fight in robot mode, suddenly another vehicle starts driving towards them forcing the two robots back into their vehicle modes. Suddenly the normal pick-up truck's front wheels burst and the vehicle is forced to stop, but another truck is coming around the corner and is about to collide, unless the two Autobots intervene.

The two Autobots line up on either side of the pick-up and guide it off the road, allowing the other truck to pass safely, at least in theory, but the truck is going too fast, and turns out to be an oil tanker, Strongarm puts on her sirens and places herself (in vehicle mode) in front of the tanker to try and stop it, luckily he manages to stop just before hitting Strongarm, much to the Autobot's relief. The two Autobots leave before the humans can find out they're robots and comment that they actually work well together, but wont admit that to the rest of the team.

The Autobots return to the junkyard where Bumblebee is waiting, and asks how their training session went, the Humans notice the scrapes on Sideswipe's body and they tell them how they stopped the collision, but stayed undercover much to Bumblebee's relief. All of a sudden there's an intruder alert in the junkyard.

When they return to the command center they find out that it's three humans who Russell knows from school, who are delinquents and have repeated the grade a few times. The Autobots revert to vehicle modes so Denny and Russell can see what they want.

Russell confronts the teens and they claim that this is their new hangout, but Denny soon appears and reveals to them that he and Russell own and live there. They start to leave, but see something they find interesting...a giant T-Rex statue...GRIMLOCK!

Denny and Russell try to say that Grimlock was just a prop from a Japanese monster film, but Steve claims to have never seen him in any film, and even points out that he's a dinosaur, not a Kaiju. When examining him, Grimlock notices a tattoo on one of the boy's arms with a cat on it, which causes him to freak out and break character, due to his fear of cats. The teens think they accidentally turned on the animatronic, and Denny lures the Dinobot away. the bullies start to threaten Russell when they think he's messing with them, and suddenly Sideswipe, in vehicle mode starts revving up to scare off the teens. Strongarm and Bumblebee joined in, and scare the teens away, Bumblebee compliments Sideswipe on his plan to protect Russsell and get rid of the teens safely.

Fixit detects a large number of Decepticon signals at the docks in Crown City, and the Autobots head towards there via the Groundbridge.

In an old steel mill at Crown City, Steeljaw is talking with Thunderhoof and Underbite, and gets annoyed with Thunderhoof when he starts going on about how he should be in charge again and attacks the other Decepticon, but lets him go as he needs the troops to help him in his long-term goals on Earth.

Thunderhoof, annoyed, goes for a walk, and Underbite tags along. They soon arrive at the docks and start discussing Thudnerhoof's stint as the Kospego when he first got released on Earth when they suddenly hear some commotion from inside the factory nearby. Inside, they find three more Decepticons stealing some of the products being stored there, the two Decepticons approach the newcomers, but find them aggressive towards them and they attack.

The Decepticons fight amongst themselves, and the Autobots bridge into the area outside and find the Decepticons fighting, and soon enter the battle too. Thunderhoof loses track of his opponent, Slink, and Sideswipe takes him on instead.

Whilst the others fight, Slink gets to a forklift and loads it up with her stolen goods and tries to get her henchmen to leave with her and the goods. Strongarm manages to rush to Sideswipe's aid against Thunderhoof, but are interrupted when Slink rushes past with the forklift, she shoots out the lights in the factory and has her team use their night vision goggles to see in the darkness, however thanks to the moonlight through the windows, Thunderhoof can still see the others, and gives them chase.

Due to all of the fighting the factory starts to collapse around the Cybertronians, the Autobots escape and give chase to Slink's team, whilst Thudnerhoof it left behind, seemingly trapped, but not for long, he escapes from the rubble and is angry.

The Bee Team soon find the newer Decepticons and manage to stop their plan, and capture them, the team head through the Groundbridge to head back to base, but Sideswipe is intercepted before he can leave by Thunderhoof and is forced to fight him again, he manages to use Thunderhoof's size to his advantage and tricks him into plummeting into the harbour's water. Bee returns through the Groundbridge and is complimented by his team leader for his quick thinking, Sideswipe claims he owes it all to his good teacher, and Bumblebee says the same, thinking about Optimus.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Optimus Prime - Truck (Vision in water)

Decepticon

Steeljaw - Van

Thunderhoof - Tractor

Underbite - Cybertronian Car

Slink the Catbot Captured by Bee Team

Sneak the Weaselbot Captured by Bee Team 

Snitch the Ratbot Captured by Bee Team 

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Joey

Johnny

Steve

Notes

• This is the second book in the new RID2015 series
• The first chapter of this book was previewed in the previous book, but included different pictures and was formatted differently.
• The teenagers seem to be well-versed in films, with Steve apparently seeing all Kaiju movies, and Johnny recalling Jurassic Park and Christine (but not saying their names). Considering this series should be sset in the future from now, these movies should probably be quite old by this time.
• This story has no sign of Drift or his Mini-Cons, further implying that his insertion in the last book was last-minute.
• Steeljaw reveals his plan is to find the Anti-Spark...could this be the major danger hinted at throughout season one of the cartoon?
• Thudnerhoof's line of "would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling bots" is a reference to the famous line from the Scooby-Doo series. To add to the similarities this was after he disguised himself as a local legend monster and was unveiled as fake.
• The only bit of information about the new three Decepticons we get is that Slink is black, none of them transform in the story, but appear to be small since they can all use the forklift in the factory.
• Slink's plan was to steal all the pet food in the factory and force the humans to pay through the nose to get it back so they can feed their beloved pets....that is EVIL!!!
• Why didn't one of the newer Decepticons take the form of the forklift rather than getting a normal one to ride in?

RID - Bumblebee vs Scuzzard

Plot

Bumblebee is sparring with Sideswipe and Strongarm at the junkyard, but starts to get annoyed when the two younger Autobots start bickering as usual. Russell turns up, feeling lonely since his friends have gone away for Spring Break. To try and cheer him up, the Autobots start to play a game of "Lob Ball", using Fixit as the ball itself, which ends up in a mess and Bumblebee has to save Fixit from being badly hurt.

Denny comes out, all excited about his old friend having some rare pinball machines for him, and he takes Russell with him to pick them up.

Elsewhere, one of the missing Stasis Pods opens up, and Scuzzard is released, he's immediately hungry and finds a liking to the taste of some junk around him...

Later, Russell and Denny have picked up the pinball machines, they encounter Scuzzard as he lands on top of their pick up truck. The humans drive the pick up truck away, so that they get away from the other innocent humans in the city, during the chase, one of the pinball machines is let loose, and smashes on the ground, Scuzzard goes after the trash allowing the humans to leave for now.

They make it back to the junkyard where they inform the Autobots about the Decepticon, whom Fixit manages to identify for them from the ship's manifest, and explains that he's a Scavengebot who gains power from eating matter, but his personal tastes make him like trash more than others. Fixit manages to track down the Decepticon and Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm head out to takke him down.

Sideswipe manages to get Scuzzard's attention when he finds him going after some junk at the arcade and leads him towards the other Autobots. Sideswipe manages to use a nearby forest as some cover to make it harder for Scuzzard to just pick him up and take him away, forcing him to land and fight Sideswipe in the forest, soon being accompanied by his team-mates.The Autobots manage to defeat and capture Scuzzard and head back to base.

Back at base, Grimlock starts playing some football with Russell, when he accidentally knocks into a Stasis Pod, and releases Filch from her pod.

On the way back to the base, Filch intercepts the Autobots, seeing them as "shiny" and manages to free Scuzzard, planning to add him to her collection. The Autobots head out to recapture them as a team.

Scuzzard struggles from Filch's grasp by biting her foot, and the two Decepticons start flying around causing some damage during their own little skirmish between themselves. Bumblebee and his team arrive and interrupt the battle by joining in themselves. During the battle, the Groundbridge opens up and Drift comes through, and joins the battle and they quickly defeat the two Decepticons.

Following the battle, the team head through the portal, and back to the junkyard with their prisoners in tow. Filch manages to briefly escape their grasps again, but is soon recaptured and placed back into their cells.

Drift informs the team that he's found an Energon deposit in his recent solo mission for them to gather up for their own uses, which makes the team even happier. Bumblebee tells the team that their teamwork in this mission was vital for their success and he's proud of them, and he's sure Optimus would be too.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Drift - Race Car

Jetstorm - Arm Guard

Slipstream - Arm Guard

Optimus Prime - Truck (Reflection or Possible Hallucination)

Decepticon

Scuzzard - Vulture

Filch - Falcon

Underbite - Cybertronian Car (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Doug Castillo

Hank (Mentioned)

Butch (Mentioned)

Other

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the first book in a (currently) small series of books showing other stories from the Robots in Disguise cartoon.
• This story is clearly set after Drift joins the Bee Team, but he is pretty much just shoehorned into the story, meaning he was probably added late on in development. His Mini-Cons even just appear for no reason in his brief scene!
• Scuzzard appears to have a robot mode, with his vulture form being his alternate mode, much like Filch has, compared to the majority of Decepticons from the Alchemor.
• Grimlock mistakes the term "pigskin" as a Decepticon's name. This is somewhat understandable considering the animalistic theme of the Decepticons in the series.
• Bumblebee uses Strongarm's usual "catchphrase" of "Sweet Solus Prime!" here, this may have been a mistake and was supposed to be her line after all.
• It's mentioned here that the Decepticons are after something just about as powerful as the All-Spark...this would be mentioned to be the Anti-Spark in the next book, but we don't know what it is so far (it's possibly a Dark Spark clone though). This also gives us our first potential look at what the "big threat" of the series that Optimus is training for is.

TFCC #63 - Another Light Part 3

Title: Memory's Splinter

Writers: Jesse Wittenrich and Pete Sinclair

Pencils and Inks: Eryck Webb

Colours: Evan Gauntt

Letters: Jesse Wittenrich

Managing Editor: Pete Sinclair

Plot

The Decepticons arrive on Earth to fight off the Autobots at Decepticon City, once there Grimlock and the Micromaster Predacons are deployed to take on the Micromaster combiner Superion. Grimlock is overwhelmed by Superion, but the Predacons manage to hold him off, allowing Grimlock to leave andd rejoin the battle with the others.

Galvatron lands and has Scourge and Cyclonus find Starscream to rally the troops, whilst he goes to join the battle.

Rodimus and his team see Galvatron flying into the battle, the team starts firing, but Rodimus stops them, as it's not their battle. Optimus agrees and attacks Galvatron. He seems to have the upper hand, but Rodimus goes to "help out" by holding Galvatron still for Optimus, whilst also sneakily dropping his gun for the Decepticon. Optimus orders Rodimus to leave, allowing Galvatron to grab the gun and aim it towards the Autobot leader...

Characters

SG Decepticon

Galvatron - Rescue Helicopter

Cyclonus - Space Jet

Scourge - Stealth Bomber

Dirge - VTOL Fighter Jet

Predaking - Dragon

Razorclaw - Wolf

Rampage - Tiger

Divebomb - Falcon

Unidentified Decepticons

Starscream - Tetrajet (Mentioned)

SG Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Rodimus - Sports Car

Superion - Micromaster Aerialbot Gestalt

Big Daddy - Muscle Car

Drift - Race Car

Swerve - Pick Up Truck

Tailgate - Sports Car

Cosmos - Orbiter Killed in Battle

Unidentified Autobots

Classics Autobot

Grimlock - Thunderous Lizardous

Other

The Thirteen (Mentioned)

Notes

• The Recordicons mini-comic shows that Rumble's head survived his smelting, but it gets left behind when Straxus rescues them.
• Hot Shot mistakes Tarantulas for Sideways due to their similarities...this could actually be true and Hot Shot simply created his worst nightmare!
• The Wreckers all give the same excuse for why they don't combine into Ruination...Whirl!
• The entire story here is a retelling of the battle of Autobot City from the 80's Transformers movie.
• The Predacons have added Predaking to their roster, in the form of Classics Nightscream, and seems to be in homage to his Prime series counterpart
• Superion is made from the Decepticon Sixwing repaint, which comes with 6 parts. Since the components aren't named here I'll just refer to them as their combined form.
• Although very distorted, the troops with Rodimus can be identified from their colours by simply reading the prequel story showing this story's aftermath, and the previously seen Big Daddy.
• The long running theory of Hot Rod causing Optimus' death in the movie is alluded to here again, by Rodimus dropping his gun for Galvatron to pick up.
• This issue ends in a very similar way to the previous one, with the Galvatron about to finish off Optimus, like Magnus was about to finish off his counterpart last issue.

Other Features

Interview with Will Friedle (RID2015 Bumblebee)
Article on Combiner Wars Brake-Down and Quickslinger

Hall of Fame Nominees announcement

History of Classics Grimlock

Classics Grimlock Profile

Hot Shot interviews Tarantulas 

Recordicons Ravage gets distracted and the Decepticons get dumped in a smelting pool

Bot on the Street The Wreckers are asked why they won't combine.

IDW - Transformers vs GI Joe #7

Title: Headmasters

Written by: Tom Scioli and John Barber

Art, Colours and Lettering by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Mindbender straps Scarlett into a Brainwave Scanner to try and make her believe that the Transformers and GI Joe are just fictions, even dismissing Bumblebee's severed head as just Dr. B's project to recreate her favourite childhood TV character....yeah he thought this was a good plan....

After an in-determinant amount of time, Scarlett is "cured" of her delusions and is reunited with her husband and children.

Scarlett goes about her normal life with her family, but is being haunted by some ghosts she can't quite understand. She goes a bit mad one day, and shears her hair off revealing a subspace transmitter under her scalp, which Flagg uses to contact her, to which she says she needs more time to resolve this mission.

Later, Scarlett is at her welcome home party when she sees that her fellow Joes don't know anything about their pasts and all think this is real.

On his way home from the party, Mutt is "attacked" by his old partner and pet dog Junkyard, which jogs his memories of his GI Joe life.

That night, Scarlett kills her husband, and burns her children alive, along with their family home, she heads outside and finds the rest of the Joes have been released from their brain-washing too.

The Joes rescue the captured Autobots, who are trapped in vehicle mode and use them to escape the city, which is revealed to be on Scorponok's back. Once outside, the Autobots are released from their binds and transform too, to find Optimus has arrived on the planet with Bumblebee's headless body in tow.

Scarlett returns to Mindbender's hospital and fights with the doctor, and her burned not-children, but before long she manages to strap Mindbender into his own Brainwave Scanner, whilst she goes elsewhere, following the voices of the ghosts. Outside her final destination, she encounters a clone of herself and fights her off, allowing her to attack Zarak inside Scorponok's control room.

Outside, Scorponok gently delivers Bumblebee's head to Optimus, whilst the Joes and Autobots watch on....why not just crush the fool Scorpy!?!?

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Bumblebee

Arcee - Car

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Inferno - Fire Truck

Decepticon

Scorponok - Scorpion with a city on his back

Zarak

Mindwipe

GI Joe

Scarlett

General Flagg Hologram

Mutt

Junkyard

Gung-Ho

Alpine

Beachhead

Steeler

Dusty

Quickkick

Doctor Venom

Unidentified Joes

Duke (Mentioned)

Cobra

Dr Mindbender

Dr B

Fred Killed by Scarlett

Scarlett's Kids Burned alive by Scarlett

Springfield Synthetics

Snake-Eyes (Mentioned)

Other

Billy

Nebulon Ghosts

Notes

• Aww, turns out this crappy series is real after all...:(
• Cobra was shown making synthetic humans in a lab in Trypticon previously, here we see some in action.
• Scarlett really had no reason to suspect that she was being tricked in this story, so all her actions could be treated as her just having a major breakdown.
• The magazine that Mutt uses to smack Junkyard with is this one.
• Speaking of which, why was Ultra Magnus on the cover at all? He has no role in this comic whatsoever
• Mutt's whispering "Yo Joe." into Scarlett's ear just makes me think of the whole "Hail Hydra." whispering thing they had going on in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD 
• So the fake Springfield has been built in the couple of days the Decepticons and Cobra have been allied huh?
• Also if it's open air above it on Scorponok's back why didn't any of the captured Joes notice planet Earth ABOVE them, or the city borders being metallic and green?
• Zarak's appearance here, and the ghosts of the dead Nebulons would explain where Galen camme from too.

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #41

Title: The Sensuous Frame

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On the Vis Vitalis, Firestar, the new second in command of the ship, escorts Countdown to visit the dying Thunderclash and give his last regards. Inside the med-bay Countdown is shocked to see Thunderclash is already undergoing Rigor Morphis, and goes to leave him his various medals as a sign of respect when he hears a knock from Thunderclash's trailer, he looks inside, and screams...

Elsewhere, on the Lost Light, Nautica is trying to read another book that Rung had given her, but is being annoyed by Skids, Getaway and Brainstorm showing off. Brainstorm finishes upgrading Nautica's wrench with a new app, designed to expose if Ravage, the ship's resident Decepticon, was sneaking around them, by it being able to "flummox" the light-based attention deflectors equipped to him. Suddenly a loud noise fills the ship. 

In Swerve's bar, Bluestreak tells Ravage that Swerve's been immersing himself in ALL of Earth's media after Ratchet left when they also hear the noise, and Swerve recognizes it as the milestone being reached gong.

Ten minutes later, the crew have gathered in the meeting room, where Rodimus reveals that the crew have been invited to Thunderclash's pre-wake on the Vis Vitalis, meaning that they've now got progress on their mission due to locating Thunderclash and his apparent Matrix map.

Megatron and Rodimus decide not to attend the pre-wake for their own reasons, but Megatron calls Rodimus out on his bluff about "taking stock" and makes him have a strategy meeting with him during the pre-wake.

Later, the two ships have met up, and the Lost Lighters head over to the Vis Vitalis and take part in a dance party. During the party, Nightbeat gets bored and decides to go snooping around the ship, borrowing Nautica's wrench to help him out. Upon his leaving, Firestar approaches Nautica, and greets her old friend, dragging her onto the dancefloor, against her own wishes.

After the quick dance, the two start talking, and Firestar accidentally insults Nautica when she compliments her on finally going it alone without Windblade and Nautica...

Minimus Ambus meets with Velocity and sees the Matrix Map that Thunderclash has been etching into the walls of the ship, which appears to match the one they lost on Luna-1. First Aid is a bit confused though, he sees that according to Thunderclash's medical records he was cured of his illness six months ago, but he's just suddenly started dying. Velocity comments that he was cured by a female Cybertronian, but she can't remember who it was.

First Aid wants to perform a new analysis on Thunderclash, and looked inside his trunk to find nothing inside....

Later, Rodimus and the Lost Light head off to a nearby Starhub to get some more stationary for Megatron and Rodimus' meeting, but some of the crew stay behind on the Vis Vitalis for the funeral and to catch up with others there. The ship would return later to pick up the "stragglers".

Skids and Getaway complain about being tired suddenly, but Nautica asks Skids for his help with something, and Nightbeat gets Getaway's help in chasing down the clearly scared Ravage, who is running through the corridors panicking about someone seeing him.

In the med-bay the team see that Thunderclash is communicating with them through his vitals monitor, by controlling his functions to spell words telling them they are all blind, and are all dead. They wonder what that means, when they hear something knocking from Thunderclash's trunk...

Nightbeat and Getaway think that Ravage would have headed to the Cold Storage, to avoid the people watching him, in there they find some dead bodies, with no noticeable injuries on them. They locate the recently dead body of Countdown, which was also without any marks, until Nightbeat illuminates it with Nautica's wrench, revealing some strange eggs all over him, that were invisible until the special light hits it, however Nightbeat also sees Getaway has them all over his face too. Before long, Nightbeat and Getaway notice that the room is filled with some strange monsters also covered in the eggs, despite the room being empty just before...

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper

Firestar

Nautica - Submarine

Nightbeat - Car

Skids - Van

Getaway - Car

Brainstorm - Jet

First Aid - Ambulance

Velocity

Javelin

Rung 

Swerve - Van

Blustreak - Car

Tailgate - Car

Boss - Car

Aquafend - Race Car

Sky High - Helicopter

Gears - Van

Smokescreen - Car

Sureshot - Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Atomizer

Hoist - Crane

Siren - Car

Hosehead - Fire Truck

Inferno - Fire Truck

Joyride - Buggy

Blaster - Acoustic Truck

Hound - Jeep

Xaaron

Pointblank - Van

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Huffer - Truck

Repugnus - Insect Monster

Doublecross - Two Headed Dragon

Crosscut - Van

Jackpot - Car

Rad - Car

Mainframe

Dipstick - Car

Mirage - Race Car

Hot Spot - Fire Truck

Blades - Helicopter

Groove - Motorcycle

Streetwise - Police Car

Thunderclash - Truck In Rigor Morphis

Countdown Killed by the Invisible Monsters

Photon Killed by the Invisible Monsters

Other Lost Lighters

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned) Left the Ship

Alpha Trion (Mentioned)

Blurr (Mentioned)

Windblade (Mentioned)

Chromia (Mentioned)

Proxima (Mentioned)

Acceleron (Mentioned)

Exocet (Mentioned)

Skimmer (Mentioned)

Skystriker/Skystalker (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Ravage - Cassette

Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Froid (Mentioned)

"Mystery Medic" (Mentioned)

Other

Invisible Monsters

Notes

• We get to see Thunderclash's vehicle mode for the first time here. It is also revealed that his preferred mode was his alternate mode, according to his Rigor Morphis.
• It's revealed here that Thudnerclash used to hand out medals in the shape of his unique insignia decorations, much like how Rodimus hands out his Rodimus Stars as well...
• Rodimus hitting the "milestone gong" looks similar to the old "Gongman" openings for Rand Films.
• The only members of the Vis Vitalis crew we see alive and active in this issue are the new arrivals from Caminus...hmmm...
• Tailgate is still playing with the hoverboard created for him by Ten.
• The Protectobots and Mirage are all on board the Lost Light still, meaning this story is set either before Combiner Wars, or is set afterwards, but is unmentioned.
• All of the characters who have been shown to be victims of the invisible monsters are well respected, the famous racer and motivational speaker Photon, the "Greatest Autobot ever" Thunderclash, and the highly decorated Countdown.
• I think it's a safe bet to assume that the characters who are complaining about being suddenly tired, like Getaway and Skids have already been infected by the alien's eggs.
• Ultra Magnus seems to be really comfortable with his true self now, as he's going around without the Magnus armour at all nowadays!