IDW - GI Joe vs the Transformers #13

Title: The War Never Ends

Written, Drawn, Coloured and Lettered by: Tom Scioli

Written by: John Barber

Plot

The Joes and Autobots fight against the Cobra and Decepticon forces. Hawk attacks Destro on top of Megatron's head, but the fight ends when Serpentress and Lady Jaye spear the duo, Destro's wound is non-fatal, and so he goes to grab Hawk's tomahawk to finish him off, after recognizing it from the invading party in his past. Duke however magics his way onto Megatron's head, grabs the tomahawk, and uses it's magic robot-killing powers manages to kill Destro and his tiny Decepticon ally, Mini-Megatron.

Hawk dies in Duke's arms and reveals that Snake-Eyes was a double agent or the Joes in Cobra. Venom laughs about Hawk dying, so Duke feeds him a grenade and kills him with a great explosion. Duke leaves with Hawk's body, and Megatron uses the Matrix to fuse himself with the Autobots into Mega-Megatron, and begins an assault on the Joes.

Elsewhere, Scarlett enters the Matrix to look for Optimus' spirit and helps to lead him back to the living world. In the living world, Shipwreck has stolen the Decepticon flagship, the Nemesis, and rams it into Mega-Megatron, causing it to separate into it's many component parts.

Following this, the dust clouds around Cybertron/Primus start to clear, and Earth appears, still intact, but with a new lump of land on it.

On Earth, the remaining Joes activate the Atlas protocol, which leads them to the life support chamber holding their founder, Joe Colton, who leads them underground where they discover a giant eyeball.

Back on Cybertron/Primus, Snake-Eyes presents Cobra Commander with his old helmet, given to him from Cobra Commander's plane crash in issue 0 by Scarlett for an engagement present, and is apparently loyal to him.

Billy and Storm Shadow appear to confront Snake-Eyes and Cobra Commander in battle to take them down. Snake-Eyes manages to kill Storm Shadow, who ascends to join his old Masters in heaven, but tells Billy to learn from Snake-Eyes as his new teacher.

Commander starts to gloat to his son about winning, when suddenly a device in his helmet activates, and explodes, revealing that Snake-Eyes rigged it to explode, killing Cobra Commander and several of his assembled officers.

Ultra Magnus joins the battle against the Decepticons, and attacks Megatron himself, he manages to steal the Matrix from Megatron and uses it to revive Optimus Prime, who punches Megatron sending him flying into the sun, Megatron manages to retake the Matrix (somehow) and Starscream grabs it, knocking Megatron into the sun again, intending to use it to make himself the king of the universe.

The Matrix changes hands a few times, but Optimus ends up with it in the end, he tries to use it to calm down Primus, but it fails due to him being too power-hungry.

All seems lost, until Flagg appears and reveals the Atlas protocol is in effect, revealing to everyone that the planet Earth is actually a giant Transformers, who punches Primus, knocking him back to his senses.

In the aftermath of the battle, Optimus heals Snake-Eyes of his injuries and the Joes are brought back to Earth (I assume it transformed back to planet mode).

Afterwards, life has changed, Billy has taken on the mantle of Snake-Eyes, and has taken control of Cobra, making it a benevolent company now, and are trying to terraform Mars for human life, Baroness has gone to Venus to live out her pregnancy, to give birth to Serpentor. Megatron uses his internal black hole to try and reach out to Unicron, but instead ends up on Equestria, burnt and charred to uselessness, whilst some magical unicorns give him licking kisses to make him suffer.

Hawk has a large funeral at Arlington, and Flagg is sentences to death for his war crimes, but receives a last minute pardon.

Scorponok has settled on Earth's new continent, and now has a small cabin on the tip of his tail where Snake-Eyes and Scarlett now live together, they receive an invite to the marriage of Brawn and Cover Girl (ew).

The Solar System has been changed from the events of the war, Primus speeds off to put himself back into Cybertron's proper place, but Optimus decides to leave with some of his troops to hunt down the long missing "Makers", leaving Rodimus has king of Cybertron once more.

Later, Roadblock sees his two daughters off to the school bus with Duke, when he notices the driver is the formerly dead Buzzer, he gets his girls off the bus, as it reveals itself as a Decepticon, and they realize that the war never ends...

(Except it is over now...THEY PRIOMISED!!!)

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Bumblebee - Car

Brawn - Van

Springer - Rocket Car/Helicopter

Arcee - Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Wreck-Gar - Motorcycle

Wheelie - Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Swoop - Pteranodon

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Car

Mirage - Car

Cosmos - Orbiter

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Random Autobots - Cars

Primon Matrix Ghost

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Matrix Ghost

Alpha Trion Matrix Ghost

Other Former Leaders Matrix Ghosts

Metroplex - Slug Thing (Mentioned)

Perceptor - Microscope (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Megatron - Gun Charred by Sun, trapped on Equestria

Mega-Megatron - Megatron+Autobot Gestalt Destroyed by Nemesis Crash

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Scorponok - Scorpion

Mini-Megatron - Gun Crushed by Duke

Laserbeak - Cassette

Frenzy - Cassette

Transit - Bus

Rumble - Cassette (Flashback)

Ravage - Cassette (Flashback)

Mindwipe - Bat  (Mentioned)

Insecticons - Insects (Mentioned)

Seacons (Mentioned)

Predacons (Mentioned)

GI Joe

General Larry Flagg

Joe Colton

Duke

Flint

Hawk Killed by Serpentress

Snake Eyes/Francis Witwicky

Scarlett

Wild Bill

Lady Jaye

Lt Falcon

Roadblock

Tripwire

Mainframe

Rock 'n Roll

Snow Job

Deep Six

Jinx

Alpine

Flash

Blowtorch

Stalker

Sandstorm

Quick Kick

Cover Girl

Shipwreck

Deepsix

Footloose

Dial-Tone

Spirit

Ghostrider

Law

Ripcord

Bazooka

Gung-Ho

Mutt

Polly/Seasick the Parrot

Clyde the Pig

Max the Cat

Freedom the Eagle

Order the Dog

Junkyard the Dog

Other Joes

Wetsuit (Mentioned)

Cobra

Billy/Snake-Eyes 2.0

Cobra Commander Killed by Snake-Eyes

Serpentress/Baroness

Destro Killed by Duke

Doctor Venom Killed by Duke

Storm Shadow Killed by Snake-Eyes

Major Bludd Killed in Explosion

Firefly Killed in Explosion

Tomax Killed in Explosion

Xamot Killed in Explosion

Buzzer

Nemesis Enforcer

Raptor

Cobra Troops

Other

Primus - Planet Cybertron

Atlas - Planet Earth

My Little Ponies

Roadblock's Daughters

Hard Master Dead

Soft Master Dead

Blind Master Dead

Thor FlakenHauser (Flashback)

Unicron - Ringed Planet (Mentioned)

The Makers (Mentioned)

Sharkticons -Sharks (Mentioned)

Maximals (Mentioned)

President of USA (Mentioned)

Oktober Guard (Mentioned)

Duke's Father (Mentioned) Dead

Duke's Grandfather (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• IT'S FINALLY OVER!!
• This final issue is double length and pretty much ends all the outstanding plot lines in the series (though Koh-Buru-Lah is completely absent here)
• The Wild Bill zombie now has a completely white appearance (including his clothes) and can create weapons etc from his body
• Hawk's death by being speared by Serpentress' cobra spear is a reference to how Duke was killed/put into a coma in the animated GI Joe movie.
• Hawk's tomahawk is revealed to be in actuality a piece of Cybertronian technology, explaining how it was able to injure Ravage so easily in issue 1.
• Before dying, Hawk reveals that Snake Eyes was a double agent under his orders to infiltrate Cobra.
• Megatron uses his corrupted Matrix to combine himself with all the Autobots into "Mega-Megatron". This form looks like Megatron's Live Action Movie counterpart, but the combination part resembles both the formation of the Deceptigod from IDW's Chaos event, and the effect of the Enigma of Combination from Combiner Wars
• This comic threatens us with a spin-off comic in 2025 called "Ship Wreck: Space Pirate"...UGH!!
• Oh look....Earth wasn't destroyed actually, it just grew a new island from the impact with Cybertron....I dunno why either...
• Billy's missing legs and arms have been regrown by Koh-Buru-Lah in a lizard fashion. This is likely due to some recessive genes in his body from his dad's lizard-man biology.
• When Ultra Magnus joins the fight, he joins a bunch of Movie-introduced Autobots in recreating the most commonly seen and parodied Transformers Movie poster.
• When Optimus is reborn from Ultra Magnus he is in a pure white colour scheme, which resembles the white inner robot of Ultra Magnus' G1 toy being a repaint of the original Optimus.
• So Raptor can actually fly? I thought he just wore a birdy costume?
• Flagg wears his American flag parachute as a parachute following his joining the battle....considering how he just murdered a bunch of politicians etc I can't help but think this is in bad taste.
• Flagg's name is revealed to be Larry, based on Larry Hama, one of the major creative forces in GI Joe
• So Earth is actually a giant ancient Transformer? I would say that was cool, but we've seen it already! Earth was revealed to be Unicron's physical body in Prime (though he never transformed) and the Classicsverse Earth was revealed to be the female ancient Transformer, Gaea in the Shattered Glass comic.
• Speaking of which....how did the people of Earth survive their planet transforming and going right next to the sun like that? At least in Shattered Glass Gaea transported all living creatures OFF the planet first!
• Lady Jaye and Flint finally get together in this issue...guess they can go ahead and make a little Marissa Faireborn now!
• Serpentress goes back to her Serpentress persona at the end of this story, and is heavily pregnant with Cobra Commander's baby. So within 9 months of this battle, she had her "horrible" scars healed as well...
• Megatron ends up on a planet full of magical unicorns, which would appear to be Equestria from My Little Pony.
• The footage of Hawk's funeral is directly stolen and unedited from the Marvel comics showing Flagg's funeral....that seems a bit lazy to me....
• Flagg is spared from being executed by presidential order despite having murdered the Jugglers, and being shown in the Oval Office with a gun pointed at someone, most likely the President...WHAT THE HELL?!?!
• The US7 animals now live with Snake-Eyes and Scarlett without their cybernetics...I thought they needed those to live or something?
• Also, Snake-Eyes' real name is Francis Witwicky...whatever...
• Brawn and Cover Girl are getting married and are having a child.....WHAT!?!?
• The final scene is a reference to "GI Joe Retaliation" where Roadblock and Duke were close friends and both spent time with Roadblock's two daughters.
• So...Buzzer is alive? Glad he got better from having his head blown up earlier in the series...this of course does beg the question of why Buzzer can survive that, but Hawk couldn't survive a stab wound though?
• I've decided to name the bus Decepticon "Transit" after the RID2015 bus Decepticon character...it's still one of the only decent things in this abomination of a series.