IDW - Transformers Escape #1

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Beth McGuire-Smith

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: David Mariotte

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

When the Tether fell, the A'ovan biosphere on Cybertron was damaged, which has left the endangered people vulnerable.

Hound picks up a distress signal from them, and finds a few of the animals dead, luckily he finds a few people huddled under some rubble, hiding from Skrapnel of the Insecticons.

Nautica and Road Rage, who are also responding to the distress signal, arrive and save Hound from Skrapnel, , but are soon joined by the other Insecticons. The trio team up to chase off the Insecticons, but leaving them, and the A'ovan Pra'tyne to realize that Cybertron is no longer safe for them.

Whilst flying away, the Insecticons start fighting over a Skitter to eat, but Bombshell tells the others that they need to get back onto eating sparks, not organics, but they'll need an army of themselves to harvest the planet of life, and he knows how to do it...  

Elsewhere, Wheeljack has been healed following his I'll dated mission on the Winged Moon, when Gutcruncher and some Decepticons try to drag out some Autobot-allied patients, but are stopped by Hoist, showing Wheeljack and the medics just how bad Megatron's New army are...

Outside, Wheeljack and Hoist see a Titan starting to skim the atmosphere above them, and they know the world is coming apart, but all the able ships left a while ago, however Wheeljack believes that there could be four Ark shuttles in Darkmount, but they would be under the care of Straxxus, which is a problem.

Later, Nautica and Hound get permission from Optimus Prime to arrange a mass-exodus of all non-Cybertronian life on the planet for their safety.

The duo soon call a meeting of all the alien species currently calling Cybertron their home so update them on the situation, and asks for their cooperation in the Exodus.

Afterwards, Pra'tyne walks with Hound, when the Cybertronian hears another alarm, but the A'ovan explains that it is an old beacon given to them by Dai Atlas in case they ever need help in the future, but Hound explains that Atlas has gone Immersant and will not wake up again, which the A'ovan understands, but explains that some of the children set it off out if panic earlier during the Insecticon attack.

Elsewhere, the sleeping Dai Atlas hears the old beeping sound, and wakes up, tearing the cables from his body that were attaching him to Cybertron...

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces/Senate Guard

Optimus Prime - Truck

Hound - Jeep

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon/The Rise

Gutcruncher

Airwave 

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Skrapnel - Scarab Beetle

Kickback - Locust

Bombshell - Boll Weevil

Team Stream (Mentioned)

Megatron - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned

Other Cybertronian

Wheeljack - Race Car

Hoist - Tow Truck

Ratchet - Ambulance 

Flatline - Van

Dai Atlas - Tank and Jet

The Titans Skimming Cybertron's Atmosphere

Sonic Bomber -Jet (Flashback)

Roadfire - Tank (Flashback)

Straxxus (Flashback)

Colony Ark Escort Titan (Flashback)

Blaster (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

The Reversionists (Mentioned)

Other

Pra'tyne

A'ovan Species Almost Extinct

Various Alien Species

Diagnostic and Treatment Drones

A Skitter

The Thraal (Mentioned)

Slaargs (Mentioned) Extinct

Notes

• This series acts as a follow-up to the Galaxies series, and also as the B story for the main comic, following the non Cybertronian exodus from Cybertron.
• It's revealed that Dai Atlas and his team were the ones who spearheaded the rescue of the A'ovan species from the attack by the Thraal.
• The Insecticons were last seen in the Galaxies opener, and the Reversionists are mentioned to still be stuck in Cybertron, this makes me wonder if the other focal characters from Galaxies will have a role in this series.
• Hoist finally makes an appearance after loads of references.
• The medics seem to be acting as neutrals so far, so I'll be considering them as such, regardless of their traditional future factions.
• Since returning to Cybertron, the Insecticons have developed a taste for organic life, implying they've been on a bit of a secret killing spree.
• Bombshell's comments about becoming countless is a reference to their cloning ability, that is being worked on by Shockwave throughout the main series
• Hoist mentions that the Titans are still slowly plummeting following the Rise's mind bomb in issue 17...Blaster needs to get in fixing that problem huh?
• Straxxus is a slight renaming of Straxus, most likely for trademark reasons.
• The presumed Titan seen with the Arks in the flashback is unidentified, but something about him reminds me of Tidal Wave.
• Despite the previous examples of Cybertronians going Immersant being essentially near comatose, and used to give their bodies and energy back to Cybertron, Dai Atlas seems quite well after being woken up!
• Dai Atlas being involved in an Exodus type storyline is reminiscent of his role in the old IDW continuity...let's hope this one gets to do more than the old one!
• Dai Atlas's design appears to be based on his newer Legends toy design, so most likely his teammates are based on their designs from that same set, though we don't see them too much.