IDW - Transformers: Fate of Cybertron

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Andrew Griffith, Winston Chan, Alex Milne, Ed Pirrie, Angel Hernandez

Colours by: Josh Burcham, Josh Perez, David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: David Mariotte

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

Confronted with an Imploder and the Decepticon army, Optimus tries to convince Megatron to keep his word, and let the Autobots leave Cybertron, but Megatron now wants Optimus to remain on Cybertron, so he can see the world that he refused to help Megatron create. He demands that Optimus give him the matrix, but the Prime refuses, leading the two into a fistfight.

Ironhide and some others try to intervene, but Skywarp has his finger on the Imploder's trigger and has it set to detonate, killing everyone nearby, the moment he lets go.

Soon, Sky Lynx and Computron arrive, causing a massive distraction, allowing Jumpstream to grab Skywarp and drag him, along with the Imploder into Unspace, leaving Megatron without his fail-safe and allowing the Autobots to return to Darkmount.

The Decepticons soldiers from across the planet converge upon Darkmount, where the Autobots have managed to complete work on the Ark, and continue to repair Lodestar, at least enough to get out of orbit. 

As Optimus and his crew arrive at the city, the civilians and alien refugees are boarded upon the Ark and the Titan, including a now retired Cyclonus, Glyph, Greenlight and Gauge, while the rest of the Autobots prepare to defend the city long enough for their launches, as they know the Decepticons won't let them leave.

In Unspace, Jumpstream leaves Skywarp inside the between worlds, and has fused the Imploder into his arm. She explains that since Unspace works outside of normal time, the Imploder won't detonate, but if he tries to leave, he will be destroyed immediately.

Back at Darkmount, the Decepticons attack on all fronts, with Computron even falling to Devastator.

The Autobots start heading to the Ark and Lodestar to escape, but the Decepticons are pressing on them. Shattershot reveals that his Enigma powers can add more bots to their combined form to make him stronger, so five members of the Prime Guard volunteer and form armour around the combiner, allowing him to defeat Devastator, before being broken apart from the Decepticon barrage.

Fortunately, Computron's distraction gave the Autobots enough time, as the Ark, Lodestar and Sky Lynx all launch, and head out of orbit.

Strika stops Megatron from executing Scattershot, and has the ten combiner members imprisoned.

The Decepticons praise Megatron for his victory, but he doesn't see it as one...

Later, the Autobot ships head towards the Winged Moon, which has been under repairs from Cosmos and Blast-Off, which they are going to use as a temporary staging ground and repair base, before eventually returning to Cybertron to reclaim it another day... 

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck 

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Pyra Magna - Truck

Chromia - Car

Ironhide - Van

Hoist - Tow Truck

Hound - Jeep 

Wheeljack - Car

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car 

Highbrow - Helicopter

Prowl - Police Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Kup - Pick-up Truck

Perceptor

Ratchet - Ambulance

Windblade - VTOL Jet 

Computron - Technobot and Volunteer Gestalt

Scattershot - Jet Captured by Decepticons

Strafe - Jet Captured by Decepticons

Nosecone - Drill Tank Captured by Decepticons

Lightspeed - Car Captured by Decepticons

Afterburner - Speedbike Captured by Decepticons

Javelin - Car Captured by Decepticons

Groove - Motorcycle Captured by Decepticons

Flareup - Motorcycle Captured by Decepticons

Pipes - Truck Captured by Decepticons

Backstreet - Car Captured by Decepticons

Geomotus - Radar Buggy

Landmine - Plough Buggy 

Jumpstream - Car

Sky Lynx - Shuttle 

Grotusque - Winged Beast

Tap-Out - Winged Hovercraft 

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Arcee - Car

Greenlight - Car

Gauge - Energy Detection Machine

Sureshot - Buggy

Bumper - Car

Sideswipe - Car

Strongarm - Van 

Vibes

Sunstreaker - Car

Brawn - Van

Subsea - Submarine

Slapdash - Car

Gears - Van

Blades - Helicopter

Huffer - Truck

Other Autobot Soldiers

Glyph - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank 

Strika - Battle Tank

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

Shockwave - Flying Artillery

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Soundblaster - Hovercraft

Starscream - Jet

Jhiaxus - Jet

Obsidian - Helicopter 

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Hook - Crane

Scrapper - Front End Loader

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Scavenger - Excavator

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Long Haul - Dump Truck 

Nova Storm - Jet

Acid Storm - Jet

Ion Storm - Jet

Hotlink - Jet

Red Wing - Jet

Leozack - Jet

Bitstream - Jet

Runamuck - Car

Runabout - Car

Apeface - Jet/Ape

Heavywait - Van

Blitzwing - Jet/Tank

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Visper - Jet

Gutcruncher

Barricade - Police Car

Laserbeak - Cassette

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Snaptrap - Turtle

Nautilator - Lobster

Tentakil - Squid

Crasher - Car

Roadtrap - Van

Battleslash - Helicopter

Octus Killed by Pyra Magna 

Weirdwolf - Wolf

Flamefeather - Bird Monster

Lugnut - Jet

Jolt - Car

Airwave - Battle Platform

Blackjack - Car

Hyperdrive - Car

Rage - Car

Twirl - Jet

Swift - Helicopter 

Other Decepticon Soldiers 

Other Cybertronian

Termagax - Van 

Skywarp - Jet Trapped in Unspace with an Imploder

Lodestar - Titan Ship

Lightbright 

Leviathan - Metal Harvester 

Cyclonus - Jet

Cosmos - Orbiter

Blast-Off - Shuttle 

An Insecticlone Dead 

Darkmount Refugees

Gridlock (Ghost) Put to Rest

Provoke (Ghost) Put to Rest

Highfire (Ghost) Put to Rest 

Grudge (Ghost) Put to Rest

Paragon (Ghost)

Exarchon (Mentioned) Dead

Straxxus (Mentioned)

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Turmoil - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Darkmount Alien Refugees 

A Skitter 

Rust Worms (Mentioned) 

Notes

• This special issue marks the end of the main IDW Transformers ongoing, whilst it does wrap up most of the plot lines, it does leave it open enough for a sequel, just like with the Beast Wars comic. So here's hoping for a continuation next year! 
• Jumpstream has mentioned a few times since her time jump that she thinks her powers have been altered, here we can see that she is now able to freely access Unspace, and most likely time travel again.
• Even though the Constructicons aren't shown with Decepticon insignias, I'll still class them as being allied with them due to their dialogue and actions. Skywarp however still just seems to be an agent of chaos.
• Cyclonus finally frees most of his "ghost" friends, who are really just figments of his imagination following the trauma of the old war.
• Scattershot's Enigma ability is very similar to the Earth Enigma from IDW version one, but rather than creating another combiner, he uses the five volunteers to form extra armour for Computron.
• Cyclonus reveals that Neutronia, a planet previously mentioned as having been destroyed by Turmoil, managed to barely survive.
• The group shot on the Ark near the end of this issue has several characters that I just can't identify due to the art being somewhat off-model or block coloured.
• Bumblebee comments that the Winged Moon is the most amazing thing he's ever seen, mirroring what his mentee Rubble said about the facility very early on in the series.
• Blast-Off is confirmed as having joined Cosmos on the Winged Moon, and has been helping him fix it for the Autobot refugees.
• The Autobots leaving Cybertron to be controlled by the Decepticons, with the intent to return later and take it back, is a plot point in many Transformers franchises in the past (G1 cartoon, Beast Machines technically, Armada, Prime amongst others)
• Just adding from my thoughts at the end of War's End, we don't see Zetar this issue, making he think he could very well be another Exarchon body still.
• Pipes is seen amongst the Autobots on the Ark, but he was supposed to be on Cybertron, as part of the Computron distraction. I guess he could have been Puffer though?

IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #17

Title: The End

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Rhinox wakes up outside the Darksyde, where he finds the Maximals and Predacons fighting the Children of the Vok, with the latter clearly having the advantage due to their sheer numbers.

Through the battle, many personal battles and moments happen, until the Vok interrupt, and decide to kill all the Cybertronians due to their violent nature's (despite this battle being agreed to by them previously) and start disabling the Cybertronians, whilst preparing their reversion device to wipe out the planet's inhabitants, and start over again.

Meanwhile, Rattrap and Waspinator have been getting the Axalon's engines working, to enable it to fly at low heights, and Rattrap decides to weaponise the Transwarp engine since the Vok clearly seem to hate it.

Soon, the duo fly the Axalon to the battlefield and use their weaponised Transwarp engines to destabilise the Vok, seemingly destroying them.

In the aftermath, the Children of the Vok give up, seeing their gods as the monsters they truly were, and return to the wid, asking Optimus and the others to leave them alone.

Megatron takes the opportunity to attack Optimus from behind, but he gets blasted by Rattrap's Transwarp weapon. Since the Predacon isn't an energy monster though, he simply gets blasted a "few" cycles into the future, for them to deal with later.

Following the battle, Optimus offers the other Predacons amnesty and suggests they work together to get the Axalon working and return home to Cybertron, but they decline the offer, since without Megatron they would be used as scapegoats for his actions, since their crime was very public.

The Maximals leave to commence their repairs and to try and find Megatron, and the Predacons, now led by Blackarachnia, and joined by Inferno of the Children of the Vok, begin work on repairing the Darksyde, planning on using the Vok's weapon for spare parts...

114 cycles later, Megatron rematerialises in a cave, and begins plotting his revenge on the Maximals, and his plans to rule this world, now that the Vok are gone, and declares that the Beast Wars will not end until he wins, not noticing a large Protoform with an X on it in the cave too...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino 

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Cheetor - Cheetah

Nyx - Bat

Rattrap - Rat

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex Exiled into near future by Rattrap

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tarantulas - Tarantula On the Run from the Predacons

Zombie Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Destroyed by Rhinox 

Children of the Vok

Tigatron - White Tiger

Airazor - Falcon

Inferno - Fire Ant (Joins Predacons)

Polar Claw - Polar Bear

Saberback - Stegosaurus

Wolfang - Wolf

Cybershark - Hammerhead Shark

Armordillo - Armadillo

Snarl - Tasmanian Devil

Claw Jaw - Squid

Razorclaw - Fiddler Crab

Snapper - Snapping Turtle

Spittor - Frog

Transquito - Mosquito

Jetstorm - Dragonfly

Buzzsaw - Yellow Jacket 

Insecticon - Stag Beetle

Powerpinch - Earwig

Retrax - Pill Bug 

Vok

Pakak Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon

Tonrar Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon 

Tikaani Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon 

Other Cybertronian

Protoform X In statis Pod

Department of Justice (Mentioned)

Fallen Protoform Pods (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue marks the end of the IDW Beast Wars series. However the ending caption implies that the story may continue in the future, and even ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger...so...maybe the new publisher will be good to us?
• Dinobot mentions that the army gathered by the Vok are made from every other Protoform, but there doesn't seem to be enough for that to be the case, plus we clarly see the Protoform X pod in the cliffhanger.
• The new Children of the Vok we see this issue are made from the early figures of the original Beast Wars toyline.
• Polar Claw and Saberback are seen during the wide shots of the battle, but both of them died in issue 15...maybe they're just repaints?
• Something to note, the Children's eyes change from the green of the Vok to their normal colours after the Vok die, implying they may have been being mind controlled.
• We never learn who Tarantulas contacted on Cybertron...maybe it'll be picked up in a sequel series?
• Armordillo finally makes.his appearance, after being shown in the Beast Wars Annual...but he is just a one panel cameo, and possibly does offpanel from Megatron's blast.
• The floating islands around the planet are revealed to be weapons of the Vok's, the one shown here being a "reversion device", intended to wipe out all life from the planet, much like the Planet Buster from the cartoon. 
• This issue features a couple instances of fourth wall breaking, with the Vok wondering if another universe put their planet wiping devices on a moon and Waspinator commenting on how they can clearly hear the Vok, from outside the ship.
• Snapper appears in this issue, who was the basis for the new character for this series, Skold.
• Inferno joins the Predacons in the closing pages of this issue after losing his previous "queen's" (The Vok), much like he did in the cartoon, where he joined after his Pod was destroyed (he considered it his colony)
• Megatron got very lucky he wasn't transported a couple of cycles later, he may have rematerialized inside the wall of the cave he landed in. That would have been painful.
• The end of this issue includes letters from the main artist and writer for the series, which includes some hints at what plans for the series would have entailed, should it have had a longer life. (Though most of them honestly could still fit in a sequel series)