IDW - Transformers: War's End #2

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Skywarp arrives at Decepticon HQ, and warns them about Exarchon's return, and that he has plans at the Sonic Canyons, which must be stopped or Cybertron will fall.

Megatron, who was in the middle of peace talks with Optimus, agrees to Optimus to a ceasefire, so they can handle Exarchon. Megatron orders Sixshot and Slipstream to lead their teams to the Sonic Canyons to handle the situation.

At the Sonic Canyons, the Autobot team are hiding from Exarchon, when Zetar digs through the ground, having found something underground for them to see. Exarchon has a Clone Drone army, a massive drill and an Imploder...

Pyra Magna, having received a distress call from the Canyon team heads there with his Compatriots, but Pyra orders Jumpstream to not join them, as she wants to avoid her death, as predicted by her future travels. 

Soundblaster and his team arrive to assist Exarchon, on Shockwave's orders, with some of them heading into the tunnels to deal with the Autobots.

The Decepticon teams arrive, but Slipstream has been ordered by Shockwave to stand back, and not join the fight. Some of the team disobey and join the fight immediately, and the others start to question Shockwave's commands...

The Decepticons engage the Exarchon-allied bots in the Canyons, but the giant dragon form of Exarchon joins the fight to deal with the Decepticons, however Pyra's team arrkves just in time to join the battle too.

Back in Iacon, the Science team confront Megatron, about whether it is a good idea to create a new Titan, with Exarchon wandering around.

Meanwhile, Jumpstream sees a shooting star, and decides to follow it, since she can't join the battle, however she soon discovers that it is actually Devastator, who has returned to Cybertron to join the battle. She cannot contact Pyra, due to the interference from the Canyons, do she teleports there, to give the warning in person, despite the risks....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Pyra Magna - Truck

Jumpstream - Car

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Groundbreaker - Jet

Sunstreaker - Car

Windcharger - Car

Sureshot - Buggy

Geomotus - Radar Buggy

Landmine - Plough Buggy

Pointblank - Car

Zetar - Drill Tank

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Starscream - Jet

Slipstream - Jet

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

Shadow Striker - Car

Blackjack - Car

Hyperdrive - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Tracer - Helicopter

Swift - Helicopter

Roughstuff - Truck

Cindersaur - Lizard Monster

Flamefeather - Bird Monster

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Mindwipe - Bat

Bitstream - Jet

Astrotrain - Train/Shuttle 

Three-fold Spark

Exarchon/Deathsaurus - Dragon

Soundblaster - Hovercraft

Rumble - Cassette

Frenzy - Cassette

Onslaught - Tank

Brawl - Tank

Vortex - Helicopter

Clone-Drone Army - Jets

Exarchon/Flatline - Van (Mentioned)

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Skywarp - Jet

Devastator - Construction Gestalt

Last Titan Spark Inert

Lodestar - Titan Ship (Mentioned)

Insecticon Clones - Insects (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Other

Flyts

Rust Worms

Exarchon's Re-makers (Flashback)

Notes

• We see the other side of the conversation between Optimus and Megatron from Transformers 41 here.
• Starscream and Soundwave are finally working together now, ever since Soundwave has hated him for taking his job as head of intelligence.
• Jumpstream notes that Cybertron was intact when she went to the future, so she thinks history ahs already been altered with the Rust Worms eating the surface as they currently are.
• Both Cyclonus and Jumpstream are present by the end of the issue at the Sonic Canyons, where the future version if Swift told Jumpstream she saw them die...
• Exarchon is revealed to possess an imploder, which is the same weapon used to kill the Titans Croaton and Vigilem.
• Deathsaurus/Exarchon seems to take some interest in who Onslaught is. We see in the dark future that Onslaught was one of the bodies he used in that period.
• Jumpstream absentmindedly comments that she sees a Titan when she sees a shooting star in the sky, much like Rubble did back in the early days of the series.
• Exarchon further comments this issue about how he was altered by the "Quintessence" and we even see tendrals operating on him in the flashback. I think we're seeing the Quintessons here...
• Exarchon's plan is revealed to be to infest the Allspark itself, in order to control all of Cybertron itself.
• Team Stream, who are affiliated with Shockwave, seem to be opposed to Exarchon's return, unlike the rest of his crew.
• The Decepticon scientists are now apprehensive about creating a new Titan, most likely due to how he infested Croaton during the original war.
• Devastator returns to Cybertron this issue, having gone on a rampage on Malyax in Galaxies, and having a brief cameo showing his travelling to Cybertron on a meteor a few issue ago.