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...