IDW - Transformers Galaxies #6

Title: Wannabee, Part 2

Written by: Kate Leth & Cohen Edenfield

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood & Val Lopez

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

A long time ago, Bumblebee walks out of the Great Pyramid at Iacon to cheers and warm greetings, however, when the crowd disperses, a horrible discovery is made, a second Cybertronian was forged by mistake, one named Cliffjumper, who is unwanted by everyone still present...

Back in the present, Cliffjumper wakes up on Probat, just after Deathsaurus knocked him out following the murder of the Probat Foreman, Natalus. Cliff tells his superior that he intends to tell the Senate about the murder and his plans to use the spires, where the Probats live, to create powerful Energon crystals. Deathsaurus however knocks out the smaller bot again, and leaves to enact his plan..

Outside, Deathsaurus claims that they have all been lied to, the bot he came with is NOT Bumblebee after all, and that he killed Natalus, and he sets the Probats onto the red false-Bee!

Cliff, soon getting chased by the Probats, transforms and races away, but soon discovers a small Probat child inside his alternate mode, having been on his back when he transformed, but she soon says that she knows Cliff didn't kill Natalus, since he is too kind.

At the spires, Deathsaurus starts burning the spires in his dragon mode, since the Probats were distracted with chasing Cliff. The small red bot and the young Probat race off to stop Deathsaurus, Cliff drives along a newly sharpened and exposed spire, whilst the child breaks off a piece of the Energon spire, and jabs it into Cliff's body, supercharging him, allowing him to pummel the dragon-bot, knocking him into the Energon spire, skewering him, to Cliff's horror and the Probat's joy.

Later, Cliff returns to Cybertron, along with a comatose and injured Deathsaurus, claiming it was caused by a an Energon stockpile exploding to Chormia and Prowl, and that the planet's Energon stores are dry now.

The two cops don't seem to believe him, but let him go, just saying that the investigation isn't over, and Cliff flashes back to Probat, where the people there are now free and have built a statue of their new saviour...

Characters

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Other Cybertronian

Cliffjumper - Hover Car

Deathsaurus - Winged Dragon Skewered and Rendered Comatose by Cliffjumper

Deathsaurus' Attendants

Nominus Prime - Jet (Flashback Only)

Sentinel - Space Shuttle (Flashback Only)

Megatron - Mining Vehicle (Flashback Only)

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Flashback Only)

Shutter - Telescope(?) (Flashback Only)

Brainstorm - Jet (Flashback Only)

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Flashback Only)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Flashback Only)

Cyclonus - Jet (Flashback Only)

Elita-1 - Car (Flashback Only)

Other Crowd-fillers (Flashback Only)

Orion Pax - Truck (Mentioned)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Probat

Probat Girl

Foreman Natalus (Skull Seen) Killed by Deathsaurus

Probat Dogs

Other Probats

Other

Voin Scavenger (Flashback Only)

Voin's Enslaved Organics (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Sorry this is later than it could have been, the delays in delivery times and my current schedule has been a bit hectic.
• We learn this issue that Cliffjumper is essentially Bumblebee's younger brother, but that his forging was unintended
• Bumblebee mentioned in a past issue that his mentor was female, here we learn that her name was Shutter. We don't see her alternate mode this issue, but she appears to turn into a telescope of some sort.
• This issue confirms that Bumblebee is younger than most of the other major characters in the main series (like Windblade, Brainstorm and Wheeljack)
• The timing of the present day of this story is unclear, Deathsaurus mentions that Sentinel is "playing with the organics", likely a reference to the colony tours he was on at the start of the series, but the end of the issue shows Bumblebee still seemingly as a part of Security Forces, despite him having been ejected for some reason for a while at the present of the main comic. It could be that Sentinel goes on his tours frequently, but hopefully it gets some sort of explanation later...
• Cliffjumper's alternate mode looks more like his usual car mode, just with wings on the side, unlike Bumblebee's G1 cartoon-opener hovercraft mode, so at least he's not a total copy of Bee I guess!
• The hole in Deathsaurus' chest appears to shrink between his skewering on the Energon spike on Probat, and reaching Cybertron, this could be a sign of him healing...or just an inconsistency in the artwork....take your pick!