IDW - Transformers: Shattered Glass II #4

Written by: Danny Lore

Art by: Daniel Khanna

Inks by: Gigi Dutreix

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Flamewar and Soundwave team up to try and protect the Titan Net from the Autobots, who are planning to use it to destroy the Titans, rather than letting them sleep, as the Decepticon's want.

Soundwave and Flamewar end up joining the Pirate captain Cannonball, Flamewar's commander, in fighting Rodimus and Flamwar, while Lightbright is hacking the network. The battle doesn't go well, even though the Network was protected, Cannonball is killed, while ordering Flamewar to escape...

Following Cannonball's death, the Pirates crew hold a memorial for their fallen captain, with Flamewar taking the lead. Megatron arrives, and commends Cannonball's resolve to protecting Cybertron, even if they disagreed on the methods used. Megatron offers Flamewar and her crew a place in the Decepticons, to continue their captain's work...

Years later, following the disastrous battle on Earth, Flamewar is furious with Starscream that he could abandon Megatron, but Starscream argues that Megatron let them escape, to let the Decepticon movement survive, even if he died... 

In the present day, Flamewar is annoyed that Megatron won't let her lead her team to take on the Autobots in the Static Zone, so she leads her crew out on an unapproved mission, soon finding Metroplex mostly awake, and the Wreckers dragging Jetfire inside the Titan, where she also notices Rodimus outside.

Wanting revenge for her captain's death, Flamewar charges at Rodimus, but the Autobot is a lot more skilled than the Pirate. Hailstorm tries to help her, but Rodimus shoots his weapons array, and kills him. Flamewar tries to kill Rodimus in revenge, but Slipstream tries to spirit her away, only for Flamewar to free herself to continue her revenge, leading her to blacking out after a shot from the Autobot.

Flamewar soon awakens, to find herself shackled up inside the Titan, where she finds a similarly shackled Optimus Prime, who is taken away for a "procedure". Flamewar tries to get Slicer to reveal what he's doing to Optimus, but the Wrecker doesn't tell her anything, other than how she is only being kept alive as a bargaining chip, since Megatron clearly respects her a lot to send her after the Wreckers, making the Pirate feel guilty for going behind his back.

Soon, Slipstream infiltrates the Titan, and attacks Slicer, freeing Flamewar in the process. Flamewar noticed how attached Slicer seemed to be to Blaster's decapitated head, and wonders if it has some connection to their partial control of the Titan, and grabs it. Slicer tries to attack Slipstream, so Flamewar shoots him, blasting him out the wall of the Titan's control room, to (Flamewar hopes) his death.

Flamewar is tempted to go after Rodimus to get her revenge, but she thinks back on how her leaders have sacrificed themselves in the past to keep the vision alive, and she reasons that she needs to sacrifice her vendetta to get the minimal information she has gathered about what the Wreckers are doing, with Blaster's head. Optimus' capture, a strange procedure and others, to Megatron, who, along with Soundwave has joined the battle against the Wreckers outside the Titan....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Captured by the Wreckers

Rodimus - Car

Slicer - Car Blasted out of Metroplex

Springer - Helicopter/Car

Drift - Car

Tailgate - Car

Jetfire - Jet (Allied with the Decepticons) Captured by the Wreckers

Metroplex - Titan Ship Partially Reactivated 

Blaster (Decapitated Head Only) Dead

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Flashback Only)

Lightbright (Flashback Only)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Mentioned)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned)

Prowl - Police Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Megatron - Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Hailstorm - Tank Killed by Rodimus

Hotlink - Jet

Sunstorm - Jet (Flashback Only)

Tracer - Helicopter (Flashback Only)

Barricade - Police Car (Flashback Only)

Starscream - Jet (Flashback Only) Spark Extracted in Present

Thundercracker - Jet (Flashback Only)

Frenzy - Cassette (Flashback Only)

Blackjack (Mentioned)

Constructicons (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cannonball - Van (Flashback Only) Killed by Rodimus 

Lowload (Mentioned) Killed by Autobots

Cityspeakers (Mentioned)

Titan Net Team (Mentioned)

Notes

• The Hasbro Pulse edition of this issue comes with a Deluxe sized Flamewar with a Battle Master Fireglide.
• Interestingly, unlike with most Shattered Glass designs, Flamewar uses her G1 colour scheme and design, except the insignia, rather than a  different one, meaning this figure can be used as both versions of the character.
• Fireglide appears on the Hasbro Pulse cover, but not in the comic itself, possibly implying the Battle Master was a late edition to the figure.
• Slipstream was briefly shown last issue, but this one reveals that she uses the Earthrise Seeker design, rather than the Siege version seen with the other Seeker body types this issue.
• Slipstream's colour scheme appears to be based on G1 Windblade, which would be very appropriate due to their occasional rivalries in different pieces of fiction.
• Cannonball appears to just use the Timelines version of the G1 character of the same name, which used the Prime Ratchet mould, without any colour changes.
• At the end of the previous issue, all of the Pirate crew arrived at the Titan's location, but only Flamewar, Slipstream, Hailstorm, Shadow Striker and Hotlink headed there during this issue.
• Rodimus is shown using the binocular-shades first seen on his G1 counterpart in the 1986 Movie.
• Lightbright and Windblade are mentioned as being "Citycrashers", very clearly a reference to the IDW comic storyline where the Risers hacked the Titan Net, and caused the Titans to crash into Cybertron.
• Goldbug doesn't appear this issue, suggesting that he probably did die from Jetfire's crushing last issue.
• Flamewar is shown using her front wheel in it's gun configuration, but the wheel is also attached to her backpack in the same panels...
• On a similar note, Flamewar wears her wheel in it's complete form throughout the issue, like how Prime Arcee wears it, but the cover shows it split in half and mounted at the back of her neck, like how Road Rocket wears hers. I'm not sure which one is the "official" version for her in this continuity.
• Slicer's Autobot insignia is blasted off when Flamewar shoots him, this is likely to help with toy design synergy, but could also hint at a future storyline (I still think the double-up characters and toys are multiversal travellers myself)
• Metroplex is shown to now have an Autobot insignia. I guess he generated it since last issue?
• It's confirmed this issue that Optimus was NOT killed by Ultra Magnus, but he has been captured by the Wreckers for an "operation". It should be noted that his chest has been fully repaired from the injuries he suffered in issue one of the series. (Maybe from the Matrix?)
• Wheeljack jokes that Magnus wants Optimus kept alive, so he can paint him to look like him, as a living mirror. Could this be a reference to Magnus' inner robot from the toyline, or something more?
• I think, based on what we've seen so far, that Magnus plans to replace Optimus, and potentially steal the Matrix from his body, which is the operation Ratchet needs to perform. Either that, or he wants the matrix removed for a potential third series storyline (perhaps something related to Vector Sigma, Primus etc)