TFCC #71 - Of Masters and Monsters Part 5

Title: Pandora's Gift

Writers: Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair

Pencils: Dan Khanna

Inks: Jake Isenberg

Colours: Evan Gauntt

Letters: Jesse Wittenrich

Managing Editor: Pete Sinclair

Main Strip

Plot

Having rescued Spike and the other humans from the damaged bus, Garry the Gorilla starts talking and thanks Spike for showing him that humans are good and worth saving, so he decides to help them.

The Autobot Pretenders are battling Thunder Mayhem nearby, but aren't doing too well against the destructive force. Garry approaches them and "suits on" revealing himself to be a Transformer too, who knows the weak points of Thunder Mayhem, having been involved in the final battle on Cybertron, revealing himself to be Optimus Prime himself.

Despite this though, Mayhem grabs the Autobot leader and restrains him, as he continues the attack on the city. The humans are panicking below, but Elizabeth tries to calm everyone down, as she has a plan...

Nearby, Megatron is glad that Optimus is still alive, but is still alone as his Decepticons are all gone. Soon, Ramjet arrives, promising to kill Megatron, until the Wreckers arrive, and Toxitron uses his acidic touch to melt Ramjet's face and arm. The Wreckers leave Ramjet to die, as they head off to join the battle, not noticing that Ramjet is healing from his wounds using his dark powers....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Pick Up Truck

Hi-Q - Space Shuttle/Gun

Metalhawk - Fighter Jet

Crossblades - Helicopter Injured by Thunder Mayhem

Vroom - Motorcycle

Impactor - Armoured Truck

Bluestreak - Sports Car

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank

Thunder Mayhem - Mayhem Attack Squad Gestalt

Ramjet - Fighter Jet

Toxitron - Truck Cab

Fractyl - Fighter Jet

Counterpunch - Sports Car

Human

Spike Witwicky

Elizabeth

Detectives

Civilians

Notes

• WHAT?!?! Garry the Gorilla is actually Optimus Prime in disguise?! Who could have guessed that obvious twist was ever going to happen?!
• It's mentioned that Thunder Mayhem is made much stronger than the component parts when combined because of...reasons...but Optimus somehow knows his weak spots....how?
• You know, for a destructive killing machine, Thunder Mayhem hasn't killed anyone, or caused any major destruction (besides one bus) yet...
• I like how no-one even acknowledges Hi-Q being with Optimus...guess Targetmaster-lives don't matter in the Classicsverse.
• It's mentioned that Optimus was locked inside a ship and made to watch Thunder Mayhem's rampage over Cybertron in an apparent attempt to drive him insane...WHY BOTHER?!?!
• Wait, who are those guys appearing at the end of this story? Well they come from the prose stories that accompanied this series, due to what I can only assume to be because of the ending of the TFCC and their stories needing to be tied up quickly.
• Toxitron is supposed to be an altered Decepticon made as a clone of sorts for Optimus, including his own fake Matrix....he looks nothing like that Optimus of this universe....

Title: The Re-Burn of Blurr

Writer: Derrick J. Wyatt

Art: Josh Perez

Letters: Jesse Wittenrich

TFASDSG Strip

Plot

The Headmaster Jrs and Sari are on a trip with their teacher when they are greeted by a saddened Kremzeek, who tries to tell them about how the poor, slow Blurr was crushed accidentally by Shockwave, but the Headmasters aren't interested, so they attack Kremzeek and further damage the Blurr-cube, leaving Kremzeek even sadder....

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Nightbeat - Sports Car

Siren - Htachback

Hosehead - Snow Plough

Blurr - (Slow) Race Car Pretty Much Dead

Decepticon

Shockwave - Tank/Crane (Flashback)

Other

Sari Sumdac

Kremzeek

Notes

• This story is a Shattered Glass take on the "Return of Blurr" script reading/storybook
• The teacher is a little odd, it's based on Arcee, so you'd assume it was a SG version of her, just in Scourge's colours, but this version also features Scourge's facial hair and head doo-dah, and comments they will "drain the Dinobot" aka a take on "drain the lizard" which is male speak for going to the toilet. I dunno, maybe Arcee's just male in this universe?
• Nightbeat appears to be based on Harley Quinn, with her mallet and "puddin" comment, so I would guess Hosehead and Siren are based on Suicide Squad characters too, but....I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't identify them.
• Siren's tiny speech is an inversion of his loud and obnoxious voice in the regular universes, it's difficult to read, but the dialogue says "Derrick J. Wyatt sees me in his dreams" and "Josh Perez thinks I taste like mint chocolate".....right then!

Other Features

The Secret Origin of the G2 Powermasters! - Article on the motorized Powermasters.

Transformers Animated profiles - A bunch of TFA character tech specs, nothing new though.

TFA Season 4 Episode Guide - A list and brief overview on the cancelled season 4 of Animated

Sari-Blurr artwork - A visual representation of the Sari-Blurr fusion from the script reading

TFA Headmaster Jrs. Profile - Profiles for Siren, Hosehead and Nightbeat

Advert for the TF/GI Joe Crossover toys - Buy things!!!!

IDW - Revolution #4

Title: The New Colossus

Written by: John Barber & Cullen Bunn

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B Long

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Chief Creative Officer: Chris Ryall

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Snake Eyes manages to infiltrate Autobot City, but encounters a tiny space ship named the Heliopolis manned by the Micronauts. He tries attacking the ship, but is unable to hit them. Acroyear leaves the ship to attack the "giant" alien, only to be horrified when an even larger, pink alien appears behind him.

Arcee attacks the two sets of intruders, but all of them are soon knocked out when Soundwave lets off a sonic strike against them. Arcee easily recovers, and Windblade and Rom examine the Heliopolis and Acroyear, determining them to be inhabitants of Micronus' universe, and believe them to have "invaded" in retaliation for Rom's attack on their universe. Snake Eyes meanwhile sets off a beacon to alert GI Joe to his location for backup.

Miles Manheim picks up the signal, but ignores it in favour of talking to his ally, the Dire Wraith Caleb Awan, and both are getting impatient of the other, and the recent attacks on Bikini Atoll and the White House, however they decide to enter the final stages of their plans, just as Matt Trakker enters the room. Miles ends the communication, and tells Matt it's time to head to Autobot City.

Meanwhile, in a cavern somewhere, Caleb and several other Dire Wraiths use their last scraps of Ore-13 to power themselves up, and head out to attack Autobot City too...

At Autobot City, Rom tries to apologize to the Micronauts for attacking their universe, but they cannot understand his alien language, but seem to get his intentions, so they appear to ally with him. Snake Eyes "wakes up" when the Autobots tell him to stop pretending to be knocked out. Optimus asks if they can talk like civilized beings now, prompting Snake Eyes to show his beacon watch, informing Optimus that he's already called for his superiors to arrive, making Optimus glad.

Scarlett and Roadblock return to Governor's Island, following the battle at Bikini Atoll, only to find that the base was attacked in their absence by Action Man, and the MASK team is gone, along with all their hi-tech machinery, leaving the Joes with nothing to fight the aliens any more.

The MASK team arrive at Autobot City, where they are soon joined by the Dire Wraiths, much to Matt's shock, and they plough through Victorion, and tear through the walls of the city. Inside, the Transformers, Micronauts, Snake Eyes and Rom all confront the MASK team and Dire Wraiths, in a messy battle, with the Dire Wraiths being powered up from the Ore-13 under the city, making them much stronger.

During the battle, Miles reveals his motives to be the ruler of Earth, which horrifies Matt and the others, only for the Dire Wraiths to turn on MASK taking out Matt and Miles' vehicles. Despite his apparent loss, Miles begins the last phase of his plan, and triggers the space bridge, allowing Baron Karza to enter from Microspace.

Caleb is unimpressed by the tiny enemy, until he initiates an Enerchange, and forces a fusion between himself, Caleb and some of the other Dire Wraiths, creating a giant monstrous version of himself, ready to crush everything. Everyone there looks on in horror.

The Joes finally pick up on Snake Eyes' signal, but aren't able to help without the MASK vehicles to counteract the Transformer's ability to disable their high tech machinery, until Mainframe uncovers several old-school GI Joe vehicles, that don't use sophisticated computers, allowing them to join in on the final battle too...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Jazz - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Other Cybertronian

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Micronus Prime (Mentioned)

GI Joe

Scarlett

Snake Eyes

Mainframe

Agent Helix

Roadblock

MASK

Miles Manheim

Matt Trakker

Brad Turner

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfied

Gloria Baker

Julio Lopez

Bruno Sheppard

Other Human

Action Man (Mentioned)

Microspace Denizens

Baron Karza

Oziron Rael

Acroyear

Phenolo-Phi

Larissa

Microtron

Biotron

Dire Wraith

Caleb Awan Enerchanged into Karza's Body

Axiom

Dire Wraith Army Enerchanged into Karza's Body

Joe Colton (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Rom, the Space Knight

Notes

• Jazz is still missing his arm...what the hell Optimus?!
• It's shown here that the Microspace denizens speak a different language to English. I would assume in future issues that an auto-translator will be introduced.
• When Rom holds Acroyear it looks like he's holding a doll....could this be a hint of a future Micronauts toyline?! :D
• Miles Manheim is revealed to be Baron Karza's ally on Earth, and he is also revealed to be allied to the Dire Wraiths, in exchange of him ruling Earth following their invasion...this is of no shock to anyone of course.
• Caleb Awan from the Rom Revolution one shot is shown to be a higher ranked Dire Wraith here, in his introduction he didn't seem to have much authority.
• Axiom is revealed to have been also augmented by Microverse technology as well as Cybertronian, Dire Wraith and Human, making it a melding of all the main players in this series.
• The two page spread of the Transformers and their allies vs MASK and the Dire Wraiths is reminiscent of the promo images for the Revolution event.
• Karza is shown to be able to combine himself with other things for his Enerchange, implying that his previous centaur mode was also him fusing with an actual horse-alien rather than just being an attachment of his.
• Also of note, Acroyear's sword was previously noted as being summoned from subspace...apparently subspace is available in another universe as well!

IDW - Revolution: Transformers: Till All Are One

Title: Informed

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Naoto Tsushima

Colours by: DAI-XT

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Windblade is recharging in her quarters on Cybertron when she is approached by Pyra Magna and Soundwave to come to Earth to assist him in a delicate matter, though unhappy with the sudden request, she agrees, since she cannot refuse a Prime.

The trio soon arrive on Earth and Optimus explains that Metrotitan hasn't spoken to anyone in some time, since forming Autobot City, and he wants Windblade to find out what's wrong with him. Windblade, Pyra and Soundwave examine Metrotitan's systems and find nothing wrong with him. Several days later, Pyra gets annoyed and claims that it's like Metrotitan is giving them the cold shoulder, making Windblade realize that there's nothing wrong with Metrotitan, but he just doesn't want to talk to them.

Windblade locates Metrotitan's interface port and realizes that he wants to talk directly to Optimus, but she knows they don't know if this will be safe, so she interfaces instead.

Inside his mind, Windblade is angrily confronted by Metrotitan, who is insulted that Optimus sent a "speck" in his place to speak to him, but allows her to speak to the one who really wanted to speak to Optimus...Micronus Prime....

Windblade's mind is transported into Microspace, where she encounters Micronus, who has a message for Optimus regarding the destruction of Microspace, but tells Windblade that she has to experience what is happening, in order to fully understand it...

Soon, Windblade is shot out of the Entropy Cloud where she is collected by the Ministry of Defense, who find her interesting, as she has been reformatted into a pure energy being. Shazraella is called to interrogate the mysterious creature, and explains about the entropy cloud destroying Microspace, and also explains about the war between the Ministries of Defense and Science, but makes it sound like the MOD are the ones in the right.

Windblade doesn't trust Shazraella, so she doesn't give any real information to her, but is pressured by Shazraella, who is insistent that she is an alien from the cloud, using it as a weapon. Windblade gets tortured through electrocution , which event harms her physical body in Macrospace.

Windblade is forced to tell Shazraella about Cybertron and the war, but hides that the planet is currently under uneasy leadership, in case the Microspace residents ever come to their universe. Soon, one of her handmaidens calls Shazraella away to see her husband, before being attacked by another handmaiden.

The traitor handmaiden releases Windblade from her restraints and asks her for help, but doesn't believe in getting it through torture. Windblade begins to assure her that she'll help, but she fades away from Microspace, as the handmaiden is killed for her treason.

Windblade sees Micronus' face before her and begins to pass on his message to her....

Soon, Windblade wakes up in Autobot City, where she tells Optimus about Micronus Prime's universe being destroyed, and begs him for help there. Optimus however refuses, as he wants to concentrate on protecting Earth from the current Ore-13 instabilities, and due to him now being resistant to aiding another Prime following their past mistakes. Windblade points out that Optimus is no better than them, as he annexed Earth in the name of the Primes, and they accepted that due to him being a Prime. Optimus still denies her request, but asks her to remain on Earth to help him, which she accepts...because he is a Prime....she goes off alone, watched by the newly arrived Rom....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned)

Chromia - Speedbike (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Illusion)

Bruticus - Combaticon Gestalt (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Micronus Prime In Life-Death State

Windblade's Possible Pasts and Futures (In Metrotitan's Mindscape)

Liege Maximo (Mentioned)

Vigilem - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

The Primes (Mentioned)

Mistress of Flame (Mentioned)

Microspace

Baron Karza

Shazraella

Traitor Handmaiden Killed for treachery

Shazraella's Handmaidens

Acroyear II Unit

Ministry of Defense Troops (Footage)

Ministry of Science Troops (Footage)

Other

Rom, the Space Knight

Notes

• The start of this issue begins between the end of the Titans Return event, but before Revolution #1. The "present day" part is set between Revolution #2 and #3, as evident by Windblade's knowledge of Microspace, and Rom's presence in Autobot City.
• Despite being made by the series regular artist, Sara Pitre-Durocher, the main cover for this issue features Windblade with the wrong facial markings. Also Metrotitan is shown with an Autobot insignia, which he doesn't have, and on top of that, the Micronauts don't appear ANYWHERE in this issue...
• Metrotitan has a tower in his city mode that is topped by his robot mode head...that's creepy...
• The ancient symbol of the Primes that Metrotitan uses here is based on the symbol seen on the earliest Prime from Five Faces of Darkness.
• Micronus' character model in this issue is pretty much his character model from Robots in Disguise, rather than the design based on that character seen so far in the crossover.
• The servants who assist Shazraella during Micronauts are identified as "handmaidens" here
• Shazraella's official role is given here as leader of the Ministry of Defense - Intelligence Division, before we only knew she was at one point the "mistress of spies"
• Windblade's trip into Microspace appears to have sent her back in time as well, since Baron Karza should be working from Micronus' body by this point, rather than still being in normal Microspace. It's likely that this is due in part to the time-altering nature of the entropy cloud, as shown when Baron Karza entered the cloud after the Heliopolis, but wound up exploring it for years whilst the Heliopolis was only there a couple of days.
• Windblade compares Shazraella to Starscream in personality....I don't know who should be more insulted there!

IDW - Rom #4

Title: Earthfall Part 4

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage & Chris Ryall

Pencils & Colours by: David Messina

Inks by: Michele Pasta

Colour Assist by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

At Vandenberg air force base, Corporal Leonard Song is showing off an image he managed to get of the mysterious alien, Rom before all information of him disappeared from the world. Agent Dubosky appears and orders him to hand the image over as part of his duties with the EDC. Dubosky tells Song that he's impressed that he was able to recover one of the photos of Rom, and escorts him to see the alien in a cell that keeps him out of phase with the rest of the world, whilst explaining that they need smart soldiers to help them against the alien threats like the Transformers and Rom.

Camilla is being kept in isolation as she's caught an alien infection, and is monitored by the other Dire Wraiths to see how her transformation is progressing. Darby is congratulated on her good job in capturing Rom, but she insists that she be allowed to see Rom up close, captured, for some sort of closure. Her psychiatrist agrees to this, and she approaches the cells, once there, Camilla gives her the signal to indicate that Dire Wraiths are there. Darby uses her alien gun to shoot Rom's cell, claiming to be trying to kill Rom, which destabilizes the cell.

Darby is restrained by Dubosky and her alien gun is taken away, but Rom manages to use his Neutralizer to break out of the weakened cell, He uses the Analyzer to scan the room, and manages to identify most of the soldiers there as Dire Wraiths. Rom attacks the Wraiths, but his Neutralizer needs to recharge following the energy used on the cell, so he can't kill them all right now.

Darby is knocked out by one of the Wraiths and is almost dragged away to use as a bargaining tool against Rom, but he detaches his Neutralizer (which is against the rules) and uses it as a projectile to skewer the attempted captor.

Dubosky approaches Camilla in her cell and begins to talk to her, or rather the Wraith inside her. He manages to wake up the sleeping Wraith, and tells him to remain inside Camilla for now, until he is needed in the future, as she is useful right now. Dubosky then leaves, claiming that she intimidated him.

Towards the end of the fight, the humans in the facility prepare to leave, with Song, Dr Shen and Commander Stamm unsure about what the aliens were. Darby refuses to leave Camilla and Rom behind, so she is left behind herself as the others leave.

Darby soon finds Camilla unharmed, and watches Rom torture a Dire Wraith to get information from it, and learns that their leaders are using a rare substance to create cloaking technology to use against Rom, but doesn't know anything else. Camilla confirms that he knows nothing else using her Wraith-mind reading powers, and Rom decides to finish off the Wraith, despite Darby's pleas to simply capture the alien as a prisoner.

Afterwards, Rom escapes with his human allies but Darby insists they land in a forest, and she decides to leave the group, unwilling to simply kill the Wraiths, but still wants to help out in other ways, even with the other human survivors from the recent attack, so they can help save the world properly.

Camilla reveals that she got one more piece of information from the Wraiths, there is something big happening in Seattle, and they need to get there to stop whatever it is. The group splits up into two, and worry about if they can win this war alone.

Meanwhile some partiers are watching stars on Pismo Beach, and are amazed when two shooting stars land in the ocean nearby, unaware that they are actually two more Space Knights, having arrived on Earth!

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom, the Space Knight

Snake Alien

Red Skinned Female (probably)

Other Members (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

Countdown/David Dubosky

Camilla's Inner Dire Wraith Sleeping Inside Camilla

EDC Troops Killed by Rom

Cooper's Mill Residents (Mentioned) Dead

Mason Family (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Camilla Byers Infected with Wraith Mark

Darby Mason

Corporal Leonard Song

Commander Stamm

Dr Shen

Song's Friends

Pismo Beach Partiers

Edward Snowden (Mentioned)

Other

Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Notes

• The end of this issue leads directly into Revolution: Rom, and explains why Darby is not involved in that story.
• Rom notes that the restraining device used last issue, the gun given by Countdown, and the cage used on him this issue are clearly alien in design, it's not clear yet whether these are Dire Wraith technology, or stolen from other species conquered by them.
• Part of the Dire Wraith's plan to besmirch Rom's mission was to spread propaganda against him as a murderer in Cooper's Mill, but apparently all footage of him was expunged from the internet, likely by the EDC.
• Commander Stamm and Dr Shen are both absent from the room when Rom scans for Dire Wraiths, so their nature is unclear, but it's still likely that at least one of them are Dire Wraiths in disguise, considering their previous role in the series.
• Camilla's symbol to Darby to identify the Dire Wraiths looks like a Nabla symbol, which is often shown as an inverted Delta symbol, representing the letter D, which would logically stand for "Dire Wraith" here.
• It keeps being mentioned that the Neutralizer is stuck in the body of the Dire Wraith he killed, but it shot THROUGH him, and carried on firing afterwards.
• The Wraith inside Camilla has seemingly been made into a sleeper agent for he other Wraiths, at least as long as Camilla lives, this is most likely to keep a tab on Rom's mission etc.
• Rom has a drill accessory that he can use for torture....eep.
• From what we saw of the other members of the Solstar Order, the newly arrived Space Knights are likely the snake-like one, and the red skinned female.
• D'rge appears on the cast page, but doesn't appear in this issue at all.

IDW - Revolution: Action Man

Title: The Modern World

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Paolo Villanelli

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Edited by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Following the attacks on the White House and Bikini Atoll, and the other strange events of the past few days, the British Action Man program decide to send Action Man himself in to investigate what GI Joe are up to. Action Man breaches Governor's Island's defences, and plows his Orca Sea Jet into the wall, making a hole large enough for him to enter through.

The Joes and MASK team on the site mobilize to confront the intruder, whilst Miles Mayhem, still trying to hide true motives, sends Sly and Vanessa to make sure no-one finds out about their new prisoner, the Autobot Kup.

Action Man manages to fight his way through to Kup's holding cell, where he frees the Autobot, and teams up with him to help him escape.

Kup fights off the humans with non-lethal force, but recognizes Mayday as Ayana Jones, someone who captured him in the past. Action Man keeps in contact with Mainframe and explains what is happening, and when coupled with Matt Trakker having doubts about the Autobots being the enemy, he decides to help Kup to escape by having one of their orbital laser satellites fire on the facility, but at a low pulse that cannot hurt Kup.

In the confusion of the attack, Kup and Action Man manage to escape, and Miles blames Mainframe for letting him escape, which Helix and Mainframe claim to have been done to take Kup in alive.

Kup and Action Man drive along the waterbed towards America so they can join the upcoming battle with the other Autobots, whilst the Joes recover from their attack, and Mainframe vowing to change how GI Joe keeps secrets from their own troops, and Miles begins plans for him to make his final move, whilst the Action Man program worry about losing contact with Action Man...

Characters

Autobot

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Orion Pax - Truck (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Mentioned) In GI Joe Captivity

GI Joe

Mainframe/Blaine Parker

Agent Helix

Spike/Steven Witwicky

Talon/Zilong Qian

Mayday/Ayana Jones

Heavy Duty/Hershel Dalton

Flash/Anthony Gambello

Random Joe Troops

Joe Colton (Mentioned) Dead

MASK Program

Miles Mayhem

Matt Trakker

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Gloria Baker (Mentioned)

Brad Turner (Mentioned)

Roger Moore (Mentioned)

The Adventure Team (Mentioned)

EDC (Mentioned) Absorbed into GI Joe

Action Man Program

Action Man/Ian Noble

Pauline Bestley

Terrence Salmons

Bryce Chan

Other Human

Doctor X (Mentioned)

Other

Dire Wraiths (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is set the night of the events of the GI Joe and Transformers one-shots. The former of which has not been released yet.
• Matt Trakker's new distrust of Miles' actions is due to him keeping the sentience of the Transformers a secret from him and his team
• It seems appropriate that the Action Man one-shot would heavily feature both GI Joe and MASK, since Action Man is the UK counterpart to GI Joe, and MASK being a sub-division of GI Joe in past media, making them family...Kup is just there because he's a grumpy old uncle...
• Action Man wanting to have a robot best friend is likely due to the film "The Iron Giant" from his childhood.
• This issue acts somewhat like a "backdoor" pilot for the Revolutionaries comic series, which is set to star Kup, Action Man, Mayday and others
• Kup and Action Man both find each other's names amusing.
• Kup begins to compare Action Man discovering his friend was his arch-enemy to Orion Pax (Optimus) being betrayed by his friend Megatron.
• Spike's name is revealed to be Steven here, before his mother named him as "Stevie" this is his full first name however.

IDW - Revolution: Transformers

Title: Thundercracker & Buster save the world (and Marissa Faireborn helps, too)

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Thomas Deer

Letters by: Gilberto Lazcano 

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Marissa is annoyed that the President has assigned her to guard a briefcase for her at the White House, but before the two can argue about it too much, Marissa receives a message from Scarlett of GI Joe, telling her that Bikini Atoll has been taken over by aliens, and warns her that all other locations could be infiltrated too. At that moment several of the secret service guys in the room transform into their true Dire Wraith forms, and begin their attack on the humans.

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Thundercracker is helping some firefighters to rescue some trapped humans from a burning building, along with Buster, D.O.C. and Bob, whilst also working on his screenplay and keeping Optimus up to date with his work. During the rescue the communication to Optimus gets disconnected and he's soon contacted by Marissa who needs his help, as she doesn't trust anyone else. Thudnercracker flies off to the White House to save the day, along with his little friends.

Marissa has finished killing the Wraiths in the Oval Office using an armour-piercing pistol she has, and escorts the President and her important briefcase through the building. Fighting off the Dire Wraiths along the way.

Thundercracker arrives at the White House, but is immediately attacked by the clone Transformers guarding the building.

Going through the building, the President and Marissa encounter Rashid Nasir, one of her aides, who directs them to the Vice President's office, where several humans are hiding out, however a couple of them are revealed to be Dire Wraiths after all, and go to attack the remaining humans. Luckily though, Thundercracker smashes through the wall and crushes one of the Wraiths whilst Bob attacks the last one, who begins to eat the alien invader. The clone Transformers are destroyed by Thundercracker.

They regroup, and one of the aides deduces that since the Clones attacked, that would mean that someone in their control room must be a Wraith too, unfortunately Marissa is worried since they can't tell who is a Wraith or not, until Buster starts to growl at one of the aides, revealing her to be an alien. The President is forced to reveal that her briefcase is Joe Colton's and contains his stash of Ore-13. Marissa figures out that the Wraiths need it for their plan, so she takes it from the President and takes it further through the White House, leaving the animals with the President for her protection, whilst Thundercracker and Nasir go with her, the latter holding the briefcase.

Thundercracker smashes his way into control room, where they find the room filled with Dire Wraiths. The aliens sense the Ore-13 and steal the briefcase from Nasir, tearing his fingers off in the process. One of the Dire Wraiths uses her magicks to fuse the Ore-13 into her body, causing her to grow to a giant size and goes on a rampage.

Thundercracker flies into the air with the Wraith, and decides to throw her into the Sun, since she's annoying him with her monologue, before she overheats his arm, causing it to separate from his body, but not before he warns her of the ammunitions.

Despite the warning, the arm explodes, injuring the Wraith and sending her plummeting to Earth, skewering her on the Washington Monument, killing her.

In the aftermath everyone reunites, and Thundercracker decides to take a break from his screenwriting, and wants to go on a road trip with Buster, which the doggie appears to like the idea of.

Characters

Autobot

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Sunstreaker - Sports Car (Mentioned)

Jetfire - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bob the Insecticon

D.O.C.

Garrison Blackrock - Head (Mentioned)

GI Joe

Scarlett (Mentioned)

Other Human

Madam President

Marissa Faireborn

Rashid Nasir

Clone Transformer Operator Killed by Jimenez

White House Staff Several Killed by Dire Wraiths

Burning Apartment Family

Firefighters

President Taft (Mentioned)

EDC (Mentioned) Absorbed into GI Joe

Dire Wraith

Ms Jimenez Killed by Thundercracker

Mitch Johnson Killed by Thundercracker or Bob

Replaced White House Staff Killed by Marissa, Thundercracker and others

Random Dire Wraiths

Joe Colton (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Buster the Dog

Jones the Cat

Thrust Clone - Fighter Jet Destroyed by Thundercracker

Ramjet Clone - Fighter Jet Destroyed

Notes

• Despite being a major character in this issue, the President is STILL unnamed. This is bound to be leading up to a big name reveal...
• Marissa has been transferred to being on the President's personal staff following being fired from the EDC, and being replaced by Joe Colton.
• The attack on Bikini Atoll mentioned in this issue happens in the GI Joe Revolution issue, which hasn't yet been released.
• So....the Dire Wraiths replace most of the White House staff with their troops, but DON'T replace the President of America?!? DA FUCK?!?!
• Thundercracker is shown performing helpful deeds on Earth as part of the Autobot's mission to befriend the humans. To their credit though, none of the humans attack him or his crew today.
• It's mentioned that Thundercracker is watching Bob for Sunstreaker, but why is he watching D.O.C.?
• Thundercracker's new arm was made to replace the one he lost during the battle at the Indian Ocean.
• Marissa has Thundercracker's comm channel programmed into her phone...that's cute.
• Bob starts to eat a Dire Wraith in this issue....so....does he poop? Are the Wraith-chunks just going to be sitting in his "stomach" now?
• Buster can tell who is a Dire Wraith or not just by smelling them....how have they not been detected before now if canines can detect them?!
• Also, Buster the dog is now a better detection tool that Rom's Analyzer. HA!!
• Due to her extended use of magic here, Jimenez is likely an Elite Dire Wraith.
• We previously saw that Joe Colton had a suitcase filled with Ore-13 in the Revolution preview story, and in Revolution: Rom.
• Thundercracker claims to be planning to throw Jimenez into the Sun, but, as he even mentioned, he probably couldn't have done so anyway, but she would have probably burned up in the atmosphere.
• The President seems like she's warming up to there being good Transformers now, rather than them all just being there to invade the planet.