IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #16

Title: The Beginning of the End

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Nathan Widick & Jake Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals and Predacons work together to prepare for their upcoming battle with the Vok and their followers, with half of both crews being sent to the other ship to maximise their resources

On the Darksyde, Rhinox and Scorponok work together to attempt to repurpose the damaged Transwarp engine into a Transwarp communicator, but the engine's systems have been locked out, much to Scorponok's surprise.

Scorponok soon discovers that the lock-out is from Megatron's own codes, leading Megatron to realize that Tarantulas is behind this. The spider tries to deny it, but he quickly tries to escape, revealing that he betrayed them since the Vok promised all the secrets of the universe to him. Dinobot manages to skewer Tarantulas, but not kill him, so they can interrogate him...

At the Axalon, Cheetor and Blackarachnia work on preparing the weapons cache from the Axalon, with Blackarachnia wondering if they are in the wrong in thid situation, since they did technically invade the Vok's world, and they probably just lost patience with their interference.

Elsewhere on the ship, Nyx and Skold are working together to research weaponry that can disrupt energy-based creatures, like the Vok, when Skold realizes that unspace energies have been lingering in both ships, despite both engines being offline for some time now, giving them a clue.

Rattrap monitors Waspinator as he works on the Axalon's engines, and is astounded when the engine's reactivate. Waspinator admits that the engine's won't let them leave the atmosphere, but that they can take off now.

Nyx and Skold bring their discover to Optimus, which gives them a chance to take down the Vok. Optimus thanks Skold for her hard work, much to her shock, since the Predacons normally try to steal each others credit, but Nyx allows her to take her rightful credit.

The group are interrupted when a message comes from the Darksyde, through Unspace....

Back at the Darksyde, Megatron has repaired Tarantulas, and begins his interrogation of the traitor, but it is cut short, when Tarantulas triggers his newest project, the reanimated body of Terrorsaur, who quickly stuns Megatron, Rhinox and Dinobot, as Tarantulas intends to present them to the Vok.

Scorponok witnesses all of this on the security feed, and sends the message to the Axalon to warn them about what Tarantulas is doing.

After sending the message, Tarantulas sets Terrorsaur on the last Predacon, allowing him to devour him, to refuel himself.

Ignoring Scorponok's death screams, Tarantulas considers what to do now, and decides to send a message, using the new Unspace communicator to contact Cybertron, so they can send another Transwarp craft for him to escape on...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor Captured by Tarantulas

Rhinox - Rhino Captured by Tarantulas

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

The Fallen Protoforms (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex Captured by Tarantulas

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion Being Devoured by Terrorsaur

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Terrorsaur/Experiment ZT-Omega Zombified by Tarantulas

Tripredacus Council (Mentioned)

Other

Pakak (Image)

Tikaani (Image)

Tonrar (Image)

A Kremzeek (Mentioned) Dissected by Rhinox

Notes

• The first couple of pages of this comic were previewed in the Beast Wars annual.
• Despite being prominent on the cover, Tigatron doesn't appear in this issue.
• It's unclear how long Tarantulas has been working for the Vok, but it most likely started shortly after he saw their power readings, following Megatron's capture.
• Tarantulas being an agent of the Vok is an inversion of his role as a stark enemy of the Vok in the Beast Wars cartoon, which culminated in him being (seemingly) destroyed when he tried to steal their power from Tigerhawk.
• The restraining bolts used on the Predacons on the Axalon are pretty similar to the devices used to control droids from the Star Wars franchise.
• Skold is shown having a deductive mind this issue, being able to figure out how the Vok have been monitoring them, further showing that she is more than just muscle.
• Waspinator is revealed to actually have degrees in astromechanics, and even partially repairs the Axalon's engines within minutes, giving us an actual purpose to his role in Megatron's crew, rather than just being a bumbling soldier.
• Terrorsaur is revealed to have been turned into a zombie-like form, thanks to Tarantulas' experimentations.
• The message Scorponok sends to the Axalon was actually sent to the past, via unspace, so they would get a heads up for what Tarantulas is doing. This could explain the mystery Predacon message found in the Axalon's computers shortly after the ship crashed. Perhaps this message is the one that was being sent to Cybertron, but was sent to the Axalon pre-time travel in the past by accident?