IDW - Beast Wars #1

Title: Savage Landing, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: David Mariotte

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

On Cybertron, the Tripredacus Agent Galavar, now going by the same Megatron, after the long-gone Decepticon leader, has led a team of loyal Predacons to steal a golden disk from the Science Ministry, and steal a Transwarp ship, destroying most of the rest at the shipyard in the process, much to the annoyance of the Tripredacus Council, who consider taking credit for it if his plan actually works though...

Elsewhere, the Axalon is is on a delivery mission when they are contacted by Ironhide of Maximal Command, who informs Optimus Primal of the theft on Cybertron, and orders him to intercept the Predacons before they can time jump with the Transwarp drive, since the Axalon is the only active Transwarp capable shuttle still in the area.

Soon, the Predacon shuttle passes them, causing the Maximals to give chase, and try to take out their engines, but they initiate the Transwarp drive, and start their time jump. Primal orders Nyx to tether their coordinates to the Predacon's, and the Axalon is pulled through too...

Now in the distant past, the Predacons arrive above an unnamed planet with two moons, and open fire on the second-to-arrive Axalon, taking out their weapons. Not letting that defeat the, Nyx rams the Axalon into the Predacon ship and sends both plummeting to the surface. On the way down, Rhinox ejects the Stasis Pods being stored on-board, to keep them safe from the crash impact, hoping they will land safely at a later date.

The two ships manage to dislodge and crash on opposite sides of a vast valley, knocking out both crews in the process, prompting the ship's A.I.s to repair them, but upon detecting high levels of Energon in the area, they scan the local lifeforms to grant them an extra organic shield to the exposure.

The two factions all recooperate and aclimate to their new forms, and Megatron plots to continue his grand scheme, but first, he plans to take out their pursuers...

Characters

Maximal

Ironhide - Tank

Optimus Primal - Gorilla (Previously Hover Truck)

Rhinox - Rhino (Previously Bulldozer)

Cheetor - Cheetah (Previously Race Car)

Rattrap - Rat (Previously Motorcycle)

Nyx - Bat (Previously Hover Speeder)

Under-3 - Car Killed by Scorponok

Other Maximal Command Security Force Members - Car Stunned by Predacons

Maximal Protoforms (Mentioned) In Stasis Pods, in Orbit

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

The Science Ministry (Mentioned)

Predacon

Sea Clamp

Ram Horn

Cicadacon

Galavar/Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Previously Tank)

Dinobot- Velociraptor (Previously Jet) 

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon (Previously Jet)

Waspinator - Wasp (Previously Jet)

Tarantulas - Tarantula (Previously Dragster)

Scorponok - Scorpion (Previously Pincer Tank)

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle (Previously Tank)

Other Cybertronian

Wheeljack (Statue Only)

G1 Megatron (Mentioned Only)

Notes

• This series marks the start of the first official remake of Beast Wars since the cartoon began, other comic series have been sequel, prequels or side-quels. (Uprising was set in a universe where G1 Megatron was killed by Blackarachnia's venom, after Beast Megatron's attempt to kill G1 Optimus, making it a sequel too). The series is being marketed as a celebration of the line's 25th anniversary, and is supposed to be an ongoing. We'll see how long this new series lasts though :)
• This issue essentially remakes the "Theft of the Golden Disk" mini-episode produced for Botcon many years ago, and the opening scene of the original cartoon's first episode.
• Most of the guards at the Science Ministry are based on the MCSF from the Botcon parts of the franchise, but seemingly using the character model made for Unit-3 (Under-3) for the final Botcon, using the Combiner Wars Dead End mould as the basis...I don't think this version of him will be combining into Magnaboss any time soon though... The other ones seen are kind of hard to identify, but three might be Shatterpoint, Highbeam and Switchblade, but I'm just not sure...
• Most of the main cast are using older toy designs of the characters (mostly from the various Botcon figures) but a few are new designs with their own histories, like Dinobot using the IDW1 design for Metalhawk that originated in "The Death of Optimus Prime" or Tarantulas using his Mesothulas design from "Sins of the Wreckers".
• The new characters introduced this issue are also based on older characters too, Skold is designed using Beast Machines Tankor's design in her Cybertronian mode, and a modified version of Beast Wars Snapper for the beast mode body. Nyx doesn't seem to have a particular basis for her Cybertronian body, but her beast mode is likely based on Beast Wars Sonar, but without the Transmetal II parts. Her name is likely based on Onyx Primal, who was also a bat Transformer from the past.
• The main cast Maximal Cybertronians alternate modes are show in the backmatter of this issue (albeit, using very small images though), but the Predacons are just shown in bot mode, so I am guess on their alternate modes, based on the previous uses of their designs.
• It's been known for a long time that Megatron had a different name before taking on the former Decepticon leader's name in his honour, but we never knew his name before now (other than the Gnashteeth link from the Micron Booster character). Galavar is most likely derived from Galvatron, a character that G1 Megatron would become (assuming this follows the same basic historical timeline as the original Beast Wars).
• Unlike in the original, the Maximals and Predacons had their beast-themed names before they even took on their beast modes.
• The Axalon and Darksyde are redesigned somewhat to make them more boxy that the original versions, which were more streamlined.
• Optimus Primal is shown to be a bit more of a loose cannon than his cartoon counterpart, being interested in trying time travel, even before his orders were given.
• Unlike in the cartoon, the two ship's crews were knocked into stasis lock when they crashed, and were scanned automatically by their ship's computers into animals to protect them from the planet's Energon exposure. In the original they made the decision themselves whilst still conscious.
• It's not currently clear if the planet they crash on here is the Prehistoric Earth like in the original version, but the presence of Earth animals does imply that it is.