Panini - Armada #6

Cover Date: 8 Oct 2003

Price: £1.75

Main Story

Title: Between Two Worlds!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Lee Townsend

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

The Decepticons land on the Earth's Moon and start searching for any Mini-Cons from when the ship crashed there in the past.

The Autobots earn about this from Laserbeak, but the Autobots on Earth cannot reach there by Space Bridge (for some reason) so they have some of their Cybertron-based troops head there using THEIR space bridge instead. Scavenger and Smokescreen are sent through, but are immediately attacked by the Decepticons.

Optimus launches a probe to the Moon, controlled by some Mini-Cons, and uses it to locate the Mini-Con's crashed shuttle, and then use an activation signal on it.

Elsewhere on the Moon, the Autobot reinforcements are badly beaten by the Decepticons, but are saved by the newly activated Liftor and Rollbar, who help them to turn the tide of the battle.

Optimus tells Megatron, via a communication that they have all the Moon's Mini-Cons now, so the Decepticons retreat, leaving the Autobots behind.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Scavenger - Bulldozer

Smokescreen - Tow-Crane Truck

Jetfire - Space Shuttle

Laserbeak - Camcorder/Gun

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank

Demolishor - Battle Tank

Cyclonus - Helicopter

Mini-Con

Sparkplug - Sports Car

Longarm - Crane

Jolt - Helicopter

Liftor - Forklift-Bulldozer Truck

Rollbar - Jeep

Tales of the Mini-Cons...

Title: Blast from the Past!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Keiron Ward

Inks: Lee Townsend

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

At Area 54 in 1959, the ERTD are showing off their new military hard ware, the Land Military Team, to some Military generals, but during the test runs, the Mini-Cons "malfunction" and start attacking with live-rounds instead of blanks. They are locked away for tests, but later in the day they manage to escape.

The Mini-Cons make their way to a small village where Wreckage manages to give a human a message to pass on later, but is quickly captured with the others by the ERTD and taken away.

In 2003, the same human, now older, is watching the news when he sees footage of the Air Defence Team saving the day in Chicago and realizes that it is now time to pass on the message to them.

Characters

Mini-Con

Wreckage - Twin Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Bonecrusher - SCUD Missile Truck

Knock Out - Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet (Video Footage)

Runway - Stealth Jet (Video Footage)

Human

Reverend Amos Hume

Hathaway

Professor Tyber

Doctor Quint

Doctor Grant

General Guy

ERTD Personnel

Notes

• Story time again! This was the only other issue of this series that I collected back in 2003. So the storyline from the end of this (to my knowledge anyway) went unfinished for about 13 years....YAY!
• The Decepticons establish their base on the Moon in this issue. In the cartoon they do this from the start of the series
• Why didn't they do this earlier? They figured out in ISSUE TWO that more Mini-Cons could be on the Moon!
• Starscream is absent in this issue, most likely due to his involvement in the Air Defence Team plot from last issue, and the next one.
• Despite the cover, Jetfire doesn't join the others in heading to the Moon, he stays on Cybertron
• So...the Autobots have been shown to have space bridge technology, that can reach Earth and the Moon etc with great ease, even in this issue, and they are also shown to have communications with Cybertron established....why did the Autobots on Earth use a rocket-probe to reach the Moon? Wouldn't it be easier to just bridge to Cybertron, and then to the Moon??
• LIFTOR EVEN DOES A SHORT DISTANCE SPACE BRIDGE TO GET TO SMOKESCREEN! WHAT THE FUCK ARMADA?!?!
• Rollbar doesn't get a real introduction in this issue, he just appears in Scavenger's cab in one panel, and then stands with the others in the last one.
• What?! I could have won a Superbase Optimus Prime from this comic? Why did I buy one from Tesco like a fool then??
• How have the ERTD kept the Transformers a secret since at least 1959? They're terrible!!
• Next issue we learn that the human in 1959 is a reverend named Amos Hume. The only clue to this in this issue is the church in the background in this issue.

Other Features

Various Contests and Adverts

Data File #11: Smokescreen

Rescue Mission! - Puzzles!!

Moon Battle! Pull-out poster of the Autobot reinforcements on the Moon

Mini-Con Code Wheels! - Destroy the comic to make some decoder wheels

Data File #12: Liftor

Starscream's Hate Mail! - Starscream takes over the letters page and insults us! YAY!!!