IDW - Transformers #43

Title: South of Heaven

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Cosmos spies on the Decepticon's Jupiter station, just as Astrotrain arrives with Soundwave, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Brawl, Blackrock, Faireborn and Jones in tow for a tour of the station. Inside they find several pieces of comfort such as recharge slabs, bars, theatres, and even a park.

Soundwave goes off to explore by himself, but ends up outside after hearing Cosmos, using his superior ears, and tries to talk to the spying Autobot, who gets scared and flies off towards Jupiter's ring of asteroids. Despite being evasive, Cosmos is quickly caught by Soundwave, who just wishes to talk to him.

Soundwave tells Cosmos that the war is over, and all the Decepticons want is to live in peace now, away from the Autobots, and blames the Decepticon's past evil-ness was due to Megatron, who is now an Autobot. On the station, unknown by anyone else, Blackrock watches the conversation in secret. Soundwave implies that he wants to use the Autobot's spacebridge for peaceful reasons (most likely to get Cybertronians to this system from Cybertron) and pushes Cosmos' buttons about his inferiority complex, by bringing up his "master" the Prime, and asking if he is an equal with the rest of his crew.

Soundwave goes to leave and tells Cosmos that if he ever wants to join them on the station, or just wishes to talk, he can contact him any time. Cosmos tells Soundwave that Blackrock's Onyx system uses Old Cybertronian codings, which Soundwave reacts uninterestedly, and leaves.

Soundwave returns to the station, where he sneakily asks Blackrock about the Onyx system, which Blackrock immediately admits uses some Cybertronian code he found from some leftover systems, which seems to trouble Soundwave in some way.

Cosmos returns to Ark-7, where he tells Arcee that the Jupiter base seems to be peaceful, and he'll give her a full report after a recharge. He returns to his quarters with D.O.C. who curls up next to his feet and rests as well.

Characters

Autobot

Cosmos - Orbiter

Arcee - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank (Memory Image)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Brawl - Tank

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Laserbeak - Cassette

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Garrison Blackrock

Stockbridge and his co-worker

E.D.C. (Mentioned)

John Backus (Mentioned)

Rasmus Lerdorf (Mentioned)

Gilgamesh (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

D.O.C.

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Buzzsaw and Laserbeak are given personalities like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show, by mocking the others from the "rafters" and just being insulting
• Soundwave refuses to share Anti-gravity technology with the Humans, possibly due to the Tyrest Accord that prevents Cybertronians from sharing potentially harmful technology with other races
• There has been no records of Blackrock until 3 years before the present day...about the same time that the Ongoing began..I think he might be a facsimile of some sort....
• Despite their alliance, Soundwave considers Humans to be only equal to other Earth animals, and other insignificant creatures, like drones.
• I get the feeling that D.O.C. might be a little more than meets the eye....with the tendrils and energy beams keeping him afloat, he sort of reminds me of a Quintesson construct...
• Agent Jones has finally been given a first name!

IDW - Robots in Disguise Animated #1

Written by: Georgia Ball

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Plot

The Autobots train to deal with the escaped Decepticons by playing a game of "Capture the Flag" against Fixit, but due to Grimlock, Strongarm and Sideswipe being unable to work well together, they let Fixit slip through their fingers and he wins, meaning they've failed their "mission".

Bumblebee is annoyed since he doesn't feel that his new team can be as good as his previous team under Optimus' command. Bumblebee announces that he's tripling their training to try and get them to work well, when suddenly the power goes out. Fixit discovers that a nearby transformer was shorted out, possibly due to a Decepticon attack. Strongarm and Sideswipe head out to investigate.

Once there, the duo are attacked by one of the Decepticon escapees, referring to them as "Cybetronian Scum" in the process, he manages to easily overpower the two Autobots with their lack of coordination, and he escapes again.

Back at base, Fixit identifies him as Spinhead, who was a saboteur on Cybertron, opposed to the new government on Cybetron who thought they were trying to turn the population into mindless automatons. The two young Autobots admit that they weren't working well together, which is why they lost the fight, but they want to try again.

Russell figures out where Spinhead is heading next, the Anitoba Institute for Extraterrestrial Communication, where Spinhead plans to contact his fellow Free Will Faction members (I guess). Spinhead tries to explain his plans to the Autobots, but they don't follow his logic at all, so he just attacks them as a Decepticons instead. This time, the Autobots work as a team, and manage to defeat the Decepticon, capturing him.

In the aftermath, Bumblebee hears Arcee contact Ultra Magnus, and tells him that Bee has captured Spinhead before he could be interrogated, and learns that they're hiding from him, which upsets the Autobot.

Bumblebee and his team head back to base with their new prisoner where the team relax. Bumblebee confides in Denny that his old team is on Earth, but don't want to be found by him, making his question how tight his team were in reality...

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police Vehicle

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Arcee - Motorcycle

Ultra Magnus (Voice Only)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Flashback Only)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback Only)

Smokescreen - Race Car (Flashback Only)

Decepticon

Spinhead - Helicopter Captured by Team Bee

Steeljaw - Off Road Vehicle (Manifest image only)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Cybertronian

Free Will Faction (Mentioned)

Notes

• The gun Fixit holds when he's role-playing as a Decepticon is Swerve's "My First Blaster" gun from More Than Meets the Eye
• The flag in the game features Kremzeek
• Optimus is shown in his RID character model in Bumblebee's flashback, rather than his Prime Season 3 body.
• Bulkhead still looks a bit miserable about lying to Bumblebee about being on Earth
• Sideswipe and Grimlock are playing the infamous "Mystery of Convoy" game back at base. They are also playing as Ultra Magnus, who is acting with Arcee and Bulkhead on Earth in secret
• The editor's letter and mini-comic at the end of this issue includes a scannable badge for the App game. It unlocks Cybertron Underbite, which is nothing to really be excited about...