IDW - Beast Wars #7

Title: Pod, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Dinobot has been welcomed into the Maximals, and during his recovery time, following his previous beating from the Predacons, he is sparring with Optimus, and giving the crew intel on the other Predacons.

At the Darksyde, Megatron finally decrypts another part of the golden disk, but is shocked to see that it is part of a warning from himself, but it is corrupted before he can rewatch it.

The other Predacons go on an Energon run as their stores are running low, and they split up for the job.

In orbit, one of the stasis pods receives a signal, and begins falling to the planet's surface.

Blackarachnia soon wakes up from the pod, and starts exploring the area, after beginning a download of a code update that she has been sent.

The Maximal explorer manages to get away from a crocodile creature, and detects a Cybertonian ship's signal nearby, so she heads toward it. She soon finds the Axalon and walks right through the protective shields, and intends to introduce herself to her fellow Maximals...just as the update completes and she becomes a Predacon!

The new Predacon hides in the corridor, having heard the Maximals talking in a room, soon, she is encountered by Cheetor, who just thinks she is a confused Maximal, until she shoots him with cyber venom, paralyzing him as he tries to call for help...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah Paralyzed by Blackarachnia

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Taranulas - Tarantula (Mentioned)

Other

Crocodile Creature Killed by Blackarachnia

Notes

• This issue marks the start of this series' second storyarc. It features a new art style, but this style is only planned to last for this arc, and will return afterwards.
• The character models in this arc are much more based on their Kingdom character models, where available, rather than the hyper stylised versions before.
• Dinobot is still scarred from his back stabbing from Tarantulas last issue.
• Dinobot's been added to the Maximal's safe passage list for the Axalon's shields, allowing him to pass through it, unlike last issue.
• Megatron briefly sees a message from himself from the future commenting that something will doom them all, but that the transwarp drive can do something to save them.
• Taranulas' tampering last issue is explained here. He was sending an update program to the Stasis Pods that uploads a shell program that turns the Maximal Protoform into a Predacon. We can assume that others were also affected, but most likely not all of them, since Tarantulas bwas interrupted by Rattrap, plus some covers have shown at least Airazor as a character in the future.
• The only real difference between Maximal and Predacon Blackarachnia are the colours of her eyes, green for a Maximal and red for a Predacon. However, her eyes are supposed to be black...
• Despite being mentioned a few times, him stabbing Dinobot, and his tampering being a main plot this issue, Tarantulas doesn't actually appear in the story.