IDW - Transformers #21

Title: Rise of the Decepticons, Part 3: Tremors

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Billie Montfort & Blacky Shepherd

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & John-Paul Bove

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Plot

Following another tremor, a geological team consisting of Azimuth, Geomotus, Landmine and Beachcomber find the giant Cybertronian Leviathan tracked down a crevice, who says that she won't transform and wants them to help her out.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee has been placed into a safe house under Stakeout's guard, but is visited by Windblade when they see a giant hologram of Megatron in the sky over Cybertron, claiming that the Autobots are trying to use the Tether's collapse to turn the people against the Ascenticons, who he points out are now being called "Decepticons" by the Autobots.

Orion Pax and Chromia see the hologram too, and Pax regrets that his old friend has gone this far, and is sure now that HE is the one responsible for the recent troubles on the planet, and not just rogue members of his faction.

Several high-risk Risers are being transported to their new base by Roughstuff when another tremor causes them to fall down another crevice. Being nearby, the geological team head out to see if they can help the injured, not knowing whose there. Once they reach the ledge, they recognize Quake, and report him to SecOps, knowing that he's one of Cybertron's most wanted right now. On hearing this, Geomotus decides to head back to Leviathan for safety.

Down the crevice, Triggerhappy shoots Roughstuff for crashing, and Rage reports the accident to Sixshot for help, though he's not very interested. Frenzy notices the geological team over the ledge and Triggerhappy transforms to go after them.

Triggerhappy quickly shoots Beachcomber and evades Landmine's attempt to ram into him when Windblade and the rest of Novastar's team arrive to take on the Risers. Fangry is quickly shot and taken out of the fight, and Quake gets caught in an electrified net by Novastar, seeing the state of the fight, Triggerhappy flies away, being chased by Windblade, and Rage drives away too.

Sixshot arrives and quickly knocks Blades out of the fight and joins Rumble and Frenzy to fight the remainder of the Security team.

Whilst the battle goes on, the Voin Asserter is being taken around Iacon by Nautica, who is just trying to keep the violent alien from levelling the city with it's firepower.

At the Titan Control Hub, Blaster okays Lightbright and Lodestar to leave Cybertron, whilst he continues to try and get the other Titans back online, now joined by Glyph, due to her data-wrangling expertise, and Tap-out and Steeljaw for guards.

Near to the battle site, Leviathan hears the noises and asks what's happening, to which Geomotus explains that his friends are fighting the Rise, which is all the motivation the giant Cybertronian needs. She transforms for the first time in ages and prepares to join the fight too....

Characters

Autobot/Security Operations

Orion Pax - Truck

Chromia - Car

Novastar - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Blades - Helicopter Injured by Sixshot

Springer - Helicopter/Car

Sureshot - Buggy

Smokescreen - Car

Stakeout - Police Vehicle

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Ascenticon/The Rise

Megatron - Mining Vehicle

Sixshot - Car/Jet/Gun/Tank/Winged Wolf

Rage - Car

Quake - Tank Ensnared in Electric Net by Novastar

Triggerhappy - Gun Mounted Jet

Fangry Shot by Springer

Rumble - Cassette

Frenzy - Cassette

Roughstuff - Truck Badly Shot by Triggerhappy

Termagax - Truck (Mentioned)

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Shockwave - Battle Platform (Mentioned)

Storm Cloud - Jet (Mentioned)

Astrotrain - Trackless Train/Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Slipstream - Jet

Other Cybertronian

Azimuth

Beachcomber - Buggy Shot by Triggerhappy

Geomotus -  Satellite-Mounted Buggy

Landmine - Treaded Plough 

Leviathan - Metal Harvester

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Pointblank - Car

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car

Blaster 

Wavelength

Playback

Steeljaw

Glyph - Car

Tap-Out - Car

Lodestar - Senate Shuttle

Lightbright (Voice Only)

Highbrow (Mentioned)

Hoist (Mentioned)

Halonix Maximus (Mentioned)

Preditron (Mentioned)

Vigilem - Titan Warship (Mentioned) Missing

Disabled Titans (Mentioned) "Gone Dark, and on Slow Fall"

Other

Voin Asserter 

Enslaved Organics

Flyt Swarm

Murdered Voin (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• We have two new artists for this issue, but I have no idea who did what pages, however whichever one did the artwork using Windblade's Thrilling 30 toy character model is no friend to anyone! GUH!
• Azimuth is based on the Kronoform toy from the pre-G1 Micro Change toy line, though I'm pretty sure she doesn't turn into a wristwatch here...
• Cybertron's Earthquake problem seems to be increasing...maybe Primus is angry about the recent events, or maybe someone is doing something dodgy under the planet's surface?
• Bumblebee is officially out of the Ascenticons now, but still needs his insignia removed.
• Megatron is outright shown lying this issue when he says he didn't cause the Tether to fall, when he was the one to order it. Before now he's only really stretched the truth, but now he's outright lying to everyone.
• Triggerhappy is shown to use his most recent toy, the Titans Return figure, for his character model
• Though he's still groaning the last time we see him, I'm going to assume that Roughstuff died from his wounds, considering the battle that started shortly after the wounding.
• Despite his robot mode being based on his Titans Return figure, his alternate mode looks totally different.
• We don't see Rumble transform in this issue, but since he shares a character model with Frenzy, we can assume he shares his alternate mode. 
• Enough time has passed since the last issue that Lodestar has been repaired enough to head to get her refits to take on Vigilem in the future.
• Blaster mentions that the Titans are dark and on a slow fall, implying that they are going to fall down to Cybertron's surface if they aren't fixed soon.