IDW - First Strike: Transformers

Title: Unification Day: Dusk

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: David Mariotte

Editor: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Revolutionaries, along with Arcee chase after Colditz, Centurion and Blackrock, who have gone into the wilderness of Cybertron.

In the wilderness, Blackrock wakes up inside Centurion, who asks him to trust him in this matter. Colditz and his Red Shadow ally are taking Centurion and their prisoner to meet with Kreiger in the wilderness and have laid some traps and left more Red Shadows in the wilderness to try and stop the Revolutionaries from following them.

The Revolutionaries follow Centurion's tracks and go after their captured friends when they are attacked by a pair of ninjas, Arcee is uneasy about attacking humans, but is convinced to just deal with them...so she slices one of them in half and watches as it crawls away, intestines trailing behind...disturbing her.

Colditz' group set up camp in the wilderness, and he begins to worry about where Kreiger is, whilst the Red Shadow leader reports about his team's failure to stop the others. Whilst their captors are distracted, Centurion and Blackrock talk, with Centurion revealing that he hasn't betrayed them, he just wants to get close to Kreiger so he can kill him for all that he did to both Centurion and Atomic Man over the years. The other Revolutionaries arrive at the site, but are hit by some explosives set by the villains. A fight begins, and during it Centurion reveals that he knows how dangerous the Talisman really is, and that it will kill all life on Cybertron if Kreiger uses it, also revealing that his body is infused with it's energies too, and begins to overload with the radiation. The remaining Red Shadows are caught by the energy and are killed, whilst Colditz tries to escape, but is ultimately captured by the Revolutionaries.

The Revolutionaries try to calm down Centurion so he doesn't end up destroying the planet himself, but Arcee decides to take the unilateral decision and flings her sword at him to kill the hybrid, but Blackrock stops it just in time. Blackrock reaches out to his friend, and he manages to calm down, but in the process goes into stasis lock, leaving him inert.

The team figure that Kreiger set things up so that Centurion would overload and hoped the Revolutionaries would be forced to kill him themselves, and that he had Colditz remove him from the city so he couldn't get involved in the events happening at the planet's core.

The team regroup and head back towards Iacon, still intending to remain a team, despite them sometimes getting on each other's nerves.

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Bumblebee - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned)

Human

Mayday/Ayana Jones

Action Man/Ian Noble

1960's Action Man (Flashback)

Alanis Morissette (Mentioned)

Eukarian

Centurion/Atomic Man - Luxury Car In Stasis Lock due to Energy Overload

Domitius Major (Flashback)

"Ironhide" (Flashback)

"Prowl" (Flashback)

"Shockwave" (Flashback)

"Soundwave" (Flashback)

The Iron Ring

Colditz Arrested by Revolutionaries

Red Shadow Commander Killed by Centurion's Radiation

Red Shadow Ninja #1 Killed by Revolutionaries

Red Shadow Ninja #2 Vivisected by Arcee, Killed by Centurion's Radiation

Garrison Kreiger (Flashback)

Doctor X (Mentioned)

Other

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Smarts the Dog (Mentioned)

Notes

• Originally this issue was advertised as "First Strike: Revolutionaries" but was changed to be under the "Transformers" title instead as "Revolutionaries" has ended
• Not for nothing, but I wonder if Action Man would still be interested in Arcee if he knew that she was forged a male Transformer...
• Despite spending a long time amongst humans, Kup still thinks that they can just get their parts replaced if they are sliced off....you stay away from Ian!
• Also, Arcee's reluctance to use "lethal force" on humans is likely due to her not wanting to get on Optimus' bad side, or to prove herself better than Pyra, who has been shown to not have such hesitations.
• Kreiger having Colditz keep Centurion away from the city, and possible get him killed by the other Revolutionaries to stop him from going nuclear is explained in a way in First Strike #6, since he needs the Talisman to succeed for his own personal mission, and Centurion's Talisman-enriched body would hinder the plan.
• Despite how it looks like Centurion has been put in stasis lock to remove him from the storyline for a while, he winds up being back on his feet by Optimus Prime #13, set days after the end of First Strike
• This story begins and ends with "interviews" between the Revolutionaries, most likely as a sort of internal report between the team.
• The ending suggests that the Revolutionaries team is continuing on, despite their comic line having ended

IDW - First Strike - Optimus Prime

Title: Unification Day: Dawn

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Guido Guidi & John Wycough

Colours by: Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: David Mariotte

Editor: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

On Cybertron, the newly fused Centurion and Atomic Man are finally talking with Optimus Prime, and they explain to him about both of their back stories, and how Kreiger essentially tortured and caused the deaths of both of them, but due to their minds being muddled, they still aren't sure whose memories are who's half of the time. Blackrock is helping him with this problem, since he has had similar problems with not knowing who he really is. 

Optimus leaves the two to themselves and plans to return to them the next day, following the celebrations of Earth joining the Council of Worlds.

On the roof of the building they are in, Kup and Action Man are hanging out, with Kup bragging about how these are the best seats in the house to watch the events. Ian however is just excited for being on an alien planet. Arcee joins them, and reacquaints with them, thanking Ian for taking care of Kup for her, before leaving to join Optimus at the event.

Down in the streets, Marissa and Mayday are catching up on what they have been up to since the EDC has been closed down, but Marissa has to soon leave for the signing. Optimus meanwhile is greeting reporters whilst Pyra is being snarky towards him, earning a warning from Arcee.

Back at the tower, the two half Cybertronians are discussing all that has been happening to them lately, and Centurion further commenting on how Cybertronians may just be creatures of war....just as an explosion happens in the crowd below, caused by the human guests on the planet. Centurion immediately knows that it is because of Kreiger, as he knows his work.

Optimus, Arcee and Pyra immediately start to get the human diplomats to safety, but Pyra blames the humans for the attack. Kup and Action Man lead off the tower and join the battle. Mayday soon finds Marissa and Flint, and help to fight alongside them, but the two Joe members try to convince Marissa to get to safety since she is a noticeable target for the attackers.

Kreiger, exiting one of the Trojan-Bots with some more troops sends Colditz, a German bounty hunter on a mission of his own.

The Autobots fight off the Iron Ring members, but Action Man is soon separated from Kup. Though he gets surrounded by Iron Grenadiers Optimus soon appears and rescues him. Action Man notices Colditz and recognises him from his own adventures on Earth. He and Optimus notice that he ignores Marissa, despite her value, and sees him start to scour the tower where Centurion is staying. They make the obvious conclusion and contact Blackrock to get ready for an attack.

Colditz arrives at the window, but rather than fire upon them, he tells Centurion that Kreiger wants him to rejoin his troops, which appears to work, as Centurion quickly shoots Blackrock in the back...

Kup and Arcee soon join up with Mayday, Marissa and Flint, where they soon discover that Cobra is in some way involved with the attack, despite them being defunct for ages. They notice Optimus scaling the tower, and soon learn along with him that Centurion and Blackrock are missing.

Arcee informs Optimus that Windblade needs him at the Council chambers, so they split up, Optimus and Marissa will go to the meeting, whilst Arcee and the rest of the Revolutionaries head off in pursuit of Centurion and Colditz, but Optimus warns them to be careful, as Cybertron gets much more dangerous in the dark...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head Shot in Back by Centurion

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

The Torchbearers (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Shockwave - Flying Artillery(Mentioned)

Megatron - Gun (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Centurion/Atomic Man - Luxury Car

Longtooth

Circuit

Cybertronian Crowd-Filler

Domitus Major - Steam Train (Flashback Only)

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned) 

GI Joe 

Mayday

Flint

Hashtag

Joe Troops

Scarlett (Mentioned)

Iron Ring

Garrison Kreiger

Colditz

Buzzer

Trojan-Bots

Red Shadow Ninjas

Iron Grenadiers

Doctor X (Mentioned)

Cobra (Mentioned)

Other Human

Marissa Faireborn

Action Man/Ian Noble

Human Delegates

Earth Defense Command (Mentioned) Defunct 

Joan Rivers (Mentioned)

Other

Elder God (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Just a quick note, it has come to my attention since my last reviews that Ironblood's Alliance has been officially named as "The Iron Ring" so I'll be calling it that here too :)
• Much like Optimus Prime #11 and #12 (reviews coming soon) this issue features interviews with characters discussing the events. In this case it is bookended by Optimus and Marissa talking about the entry into the Council of Worlds, and then about the attack on Cybertron.
• The comic is set during the start of the main First Strike storyline, and concludes with Optimus about to head off to the meeting with the rest of the Council.
• This issue could also be seen as a continuation of the "Revolutionaries" storyline, since all the characters appear here and the events are the main backstory for this very event.
• Arcee being chummy with Kup here is likely due to their time working together on Earth, especially during the Sins of the Wreckers story. As mentioned here, she met and mocked Action Man (mostly because of his name) during Revolution.
• Amongst the generic Autobots in the crowd we have a load of Japanese character models, but I won't say it is meant to be them due to them having the wrong colours.
• As mentioned in the story itself, Colditz was a villain from Action Man's own short lived series. He was working with Storm Shadow and Doctor X there, which is probably how he got assigned to the Iron Ring here.
• Pyra uses lethal force on the Iron Ring, which is mostly made of humans, directly against Optimus' orders....I think Prowl's going to have an exile-mate soon!
• Marissa's joke about Joan Rivers interviewing her is a reference to her robot character Dot Matrix from Spaceballs

IDW - Revolutionaries #8

Title: Ghost in the Machine

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Ron Joseph and Fico Ossio

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz and Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Decades ago, Joe Colton is watching a newsreel of Sgt Savage and the Screaming Eagles and becomes inspired by his actions to protect both America and the world from the dangers all around. 

Much later, following the Decepticon invasion of Earth, Joe Colton and Scarlett help in the recovery in New York and Colton becomes convinces that someone high-up must have known about the Transformers before this attack...

Just before the Revolution, Colton is ambushed by a bunch of Dire Wraiths who attempt to possess him, but Colton cuts off his own hand and leaps from the helicopter to evade them, however the Wraiths, assuming that he died upon leaping, use his severed hand to take his place anyway, and take control of GI Joe...

A while later Colton comes across some thugs who are watching the broadcast of Optimus annexing Earth into the Council of Worlds on their phone, he tries to see what is happening, but the thugs aren't impressed with the older, one handed man and attack him, assuming he's a hobo supposedly, to which Colton just kills them. He takes their phone and calls Garrison Kreiger, who agrees to meet with him in Paris...

Quite a while later, Colton and Kreiger have made a deal with Iron Klaw, who gives them a base of operations, but wonders what Colton's problem with the robots is...just as Doctor X contacts Colton regarding the attack on the Schletevan facility where the Talisman was being held at the time....

Today, in Buenes Aires, our heroes are fighting off Ironblood's alliance of villains and everyone is shocked that Ironblood is actually Colton in disguise. During the battle, Kreiger breaks free of his shackles and joins his allies.

Inside the building, Kup and Centurion fight it out, with Centurion repeating his mantra that his species are just machines of destruction, which s why he needs to kill them all. In the holding room, Doctor X shoots Bryce Chan with a stun gun so she can speak to Ian alone, and in the Talisman chamber the still skewered Blackrock leaps into the Talisman and stabs the crystal upon it with Storm Shadow's sword.

Back on the roof, Skywarp joins the fight, but is warmed upon by the Red Shadows using their Dire Wraith augmentations. Mayday faces off with one, but uses his extending tendril arm to lower herself down and swing through a window. She soon finds herself with Blackrock and Storm Shadow, the former of whom is currently partially inside the Talisman itself, and comes face-to-face with Onyx Prime, or some aspect of him at least.

Ian attacks Doctor X, not wanting to speak to her, but misses, making Doctor X laugh...that is until she is informed that he wasn't aiming for her, but rather the locks on the containment units, freeing the Wraith-Human hybrids. The monsters soon flood the entire building, chasing away Doctor X and even Centurion. On the roof, Savage and Colton fight one-to-one, with the latter trying to persuade the former of the evils of the Cybertronians, but Savage just admits that he loves the future, and looks forward to what it can bring them.

Inside the Talisman, which Onyx explains is inside Infraspace, the Prime attacks Blackrock, having seen that his use has been met already, but is stopped by a manifestation the dead Mike Power, who fights off the god-like figure, inspiring Blackrock to do something impossible too...summon a Titan...

Metrotitan, along with Optimus Prime, arrives at the Onyx building and join the battle, with the Titan having been summoned there by Blackrock. Skywarp identifies Colton to Optimus and tells him that he's in charge of the villains. Colton tries to escape through the building, but as soon as he opens the roof doors, the Wraiths funnel out. Optimus starts to fight the Wraiths, but is soon informed that they are civilians and not real Wraiths. Colton tries one last time to make Savage join him, but he is refused, which leads Kreiger to shoot him in the back.

Inside the building, Ian has met up with Mayday and the others, and is soon followed by Kup, who drives right into Storm Shadow, knocking her away.

The Wraith hybrids start swarming our heroes inside the building now, but Blackrock has an idea, he contacts Metrotitan and has him activate his spacebridge, accessing some Ore-13 deposits and sends out the radiation upon the building, curing the hybrids and returning them to their human states.

The heroes start to celebrate, but Doctor X reappears, carrying the injured Storm Shadow, she stands next to the Talisman and triggers the MASS device to transport them and it to their base. Upon the triggering the Talisman activates, and Ian is almost mutated. but is saved when Centurion, having switched sides now, realising that he wants to be a protector, steps in front of him and takes the energy in, killing him.

On the rood, Optimus goes after Colton, but he is transported away at the last second, along with the rest of his fellow villains. Optimus is worried, and Savage, who survived his gun shot, agrees.

Inside, the group now actually starts to celebrate their achievements, but wonder why Centurion switched sides, prompting the "dead" Transformer to wake up, and reveal that he isn't really Centurion, not completely, at some point Mike Power transported himself into the robot and melded his personality with him, creating a new hybrid mind. One of the former Wraith hybrids approaches the group and asks about her missing boyfriend, leading the group to remember that some of the Wraiths were killed  BEFORE they discovered the truth, and he must have been amongst them. The woman grieves, but the Revolutionaries agree that they still have things to learn and plan to do better "next time"...

Colton and his crew arrive in their destination, where they are met by Iron Klaw and Miles Mayhem, along with an army of other villains, who, now that the Talisman is in their possession, prepare to head to Cybertron for their attack on their greatest enemies....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Decepticon

Razorclaw - Lion (Flashback Only)

Divebomb - Eagle (Flashback Only)

Tantrum - Bison (Flashback Only)

Rampage - Tiger (Flashback Only)

Headstrong - Rhino (Flashback Only)

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Footage Only) 

GI Joe

Mayday

Roadblock

Doc

Cover Girl

Rock 'n Roll

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Flash Returned to Normal

Quarrel Returned to Normal

Heavy Duty Returned to Normal

Scarlett (Flashback Only)

Action Man Programme

Action Man, Ian Noble

Agent Terrence Salmons

Agent Bryce Chan

Ironblood's Alliance

Joe Colton/Baron Ironblood

Garrison Kreiger

Centurion - Luxury Car Mind Merged with Mike Power, Defects from Team

Doctor X

Storm Shadow

The Iron Klaw

Major Bludd

Miles Mayhem

Horrorshow

Dragonsky

Gorky

Daina

Red Shadow Ninjas

Other Human

Sgt Savage

Mike Power Mind Merged with Centurion

Schletevan Civilians Returned to Normal

Marissa Faireborn (Flashback Only)

Joe Colton's Mother (Flashback Only)

New Yorkers (Flashback Only)

Thugs (Flashback Only) Killed by Joe Colton

The Screaming Eagles (Mentioned)

Other

Colton-Wraith (Flashback Only)

Dire Wraiths (Flashback Only)

Onyx Prime (Infraspace Vision Only)

The Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Notes

• We've learned throughout the series that Sgt Savage was the inspiration for Joe Colton, we see here that his main "interaction" with him was through the TV
• The News Station "BNN" was used a few times in the past, most notably during the Costa Ongoing Transformers series.
• The hole in the Statue of Liberty was created when Omega Supreme shot Devastator point blank whilst holding him against the monument
• Whilst joined with the Talisman, Blackrock is able to access Infraspace, a sort of Cybertronian Limbo that Optimus accessed when he was near death during Escalation. Like then, Blackrock meets with the image of a Prime in Infraspace.
• Also inside the Talisman/Infraspace is Mike Power, who allowed himself to "die" whilst hooked up to it earlier in the series.
• Here's a weird bit of trivia, Blackrock summoning Metrotitan is the first time that a Titan Master has actually controlled a living Titan directly (the ones on Luna-1 were dead remember)
• Skywarp misnames Joe Colton as "Cotton or Coulson", whilst Cotton could just be a joke about it being a possible misspelling of his name, but the latter is clearly a reference to Agent Phil Coulson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as it sounding like his actual name.
• Metrotitan uses Ore-13 to reverse the effects of the Talisman creating Dire Wraiths...what can the Ore NOT DO?! 
• Optimus refers to the MASS device as Orbital Bounce Technology, this was the method of long distance travel used by the Transformers in the early IDW G1 comics.
• The end of this comic both finishes the Revolutionaries line, and leads directly into the start of First Strike...seems quite fitting that the follow-up series for the previous event leads directly into the next one huh?
• Following this comic is a featurette showing all the major Easter Eggs for the series, most of which I already covered in my own coverage :)

IDW - Revolutionaries #7

Title: When Eagles Scream

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Ron Joseph, Fico Ossio and Guido Guidi

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng and Guido Guidi

Letters by: Tom B Long

Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

In 1994, at the Project Iceman facility, Garrison Kreiger convinces Mike Power to touch the Talisman again, to see if it can increase his powers even more, but the energy starts to make him feel funny. Suddenly the Axalon shuttle, that went missing in 1944 suddenly crashes into the facility, accompanied by Sgt Savage, who has been lost in time since then. The Adventure Force (formerly the Adventure Team) arrive, intending to take down Kreiger, and see Mike Power, their former team member, seemingly dead on the floor. Everyone is rendered dumbfounded by Sgt Savage being there.

Savage manages to fit in well with his new era, and even teams up with the era's Action Man to take down the villains of the day. He continues to fight the good fight when he flies right into a battle with the newly formed GI Joe team in the early 2000's against a displaced Decepticon named Bugly at Mt St Helens, the Decepticon ends up being knocked out by the newly arrived Centurion who drags him away. The Joe team are concerned over Savage possibly compromising their secret mission, but Stalker vouches for him, having remembered him from his return in 1994. Savage reveals that he is there because of a priority distress message he picked up, but the team don't know anything about it. They decide to follow Centurion to see what's going on.

Inside the mountain, they find a facility that Centurion reveals was used by one of his kind in the past, where some others were trapped inside (Bludgeon used it, and Soundwave and his team are trapped inside, though they assume Soundwave is just an old cassette player). Inside they meet Kreiger and the head of Skywatch, Joshua Red, as well as Joe Colton himself, who was the one to call in Savage. The trio lead Savage further into the mountain, but refuse to allow the Joes to join them, which makes the team a little suspicious.

Inside the hidden lair, Savage is shown the Talisman again, and is told that about the Transformers slowly invading Earth as they restraining Bugly to the Talisman. Savage is concerned since this seems wrong, as the robot is clearly sentient and feels fear for his life. The team put on their radiation suits as Centurion grabs Savage and throws him towards Bugly and the Talisman, upon contact the time-energy still trapped inside Savage from his time travelling adventure reacts with the Talisman and tears Bugly apart. The team are glad that they now have a potential weapon against the Transformers...but they just need to learn to harness it....Savage hears this, as he is thrown into the year 2017....

Today, Savage has begun acclimatizing to the new era he is in again, and recounts his time travelling ales to Mayday, whilst Terrence Salmons of the Action Man Programme stands guard over their prisoner, Garrison Kreiger, until the GI Joe team arrive to pick him up.

Inside the facility, Blackrock is analysing the Talisman, helped by his assistant, Camila, whilst Ian, the current Action Man, is showing his teammate Bryce Chan the holding facility for the Dire Wraith infected Humans. Elsewhere, Kup is giving Centurion more information on Cybertron, whilst he is hooked up to the facility's computer systems.

Suddenly the outer guns on the Onyx Facility seemingly activate on their own and fire on the incoming GI Joe team. Skywarp takes initiative and takes down the guns. Inside the facility, Blackrock is attacked by "Camila" with a katana, revealing herself to actually be Storm Shadow in disguise. Centurion opens fire on Kup when he starts to realize that Centurion is hacking the security systems, and Doctor X manages to sneak into the holding room, where she holds Ian and Bryce at gun point.

Baron Ironblood and the bulk of his alliance arrive at the Onyx facility via the MASS device and an all-out battle begins. The Onyx facility's force-field activates, seemingly by Centurion, and it slices the GI Joe jet in half, forcing the team to dive out, and join the fight too.

Savage grabs at Ironblood himself as the rest of his allies are surrounded by the Red Shadow Ninjas, and Savage, who recognizes who Ironblood really is under his mask, rips the helmet off revealing the previously believed to be dead founder of GI Joe, Joe Colton underneath, much to the shock of GI Joe member Mayday....

Characters

Autobot

Kup - Pick Up Truck Shot by Centurion

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head Stabbed through chest by Storm Shadow

Decepticon

Bugly - Bug Monster (Flashback Only) Killed by Talisman Radiation

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Flashback Only) Mode Locked

Ravage - Cassette (Flashback Only) Dismantled

Laserbeak - Cassette (Flashback Only) Dismantled 

GI Joe

Mayday

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Lady Jaye

Slip-Stream

Rock 'n Roll

Doc

Roadblock

Mutated Joes In Stasis 

Stalker (Flashback Only)

Scarlett (Flashback Only)

Hawk (Flashback Only)

Heavy Duty (Mentioned) Mutated

Action Man Programme/Team Extreme

Action Man/Ian Noble

Agent Bryce Chan

Agent Terrence Salmons

1994 Action Man (Flashback Only)

Natalie Poole (Flashback Only)

Adventure Force/Team

Atomic Man/Mike Power (Flashback Only) Knocked out by Talisman

Bulletman/Richard Ruby (Flashback Only)

Mayhem/Miles Manheim (Flashback Only)

Ironblood's Alliance

Joe Colton/Baron Ironblood/GI Joe

Garrison Kreiger

Centurion - Luxury Car, formerly Locomotive

Doctor X/Mercy Gale

Storm Shadow/"Camila"

Major Bludd

Daina

Horrorshow

Gorky

Dragonsky 

Red Shadow Ninjas

Other Human

Sgt Robert Savage

Mutated Civilians In Stasis

Joshua Red (Flashback Only)

1994 Zartan (Flashback Only)

Cesspool (Flashback Only)

Toxo-Zombie (Flashback Only)

The Real Camila (Mentioned)

Notes

• Just a quick note, I'm a little behind on my reviews due to my current comic supplier being about a week behind schedule, so I only got last week's comics (First Strike 2 etc) today, so including reading and analysing time it may be a little later than most other sources. Thanks for putting up with it :D
• It's shown that the Axalon and Sgt Savage were drawn into the year 1994 from 1944 when Mike Power touched the Talisman on Kreiger's suggestion.
• We heard that the Adventure Team/Force believed that Kreiger killed Mike Power in previous issues, here we see that they saw him just after being overcharged by the Talisman and looking quite dead.
• So...just a bit of a peeve here....in the 1994 and early 2000's scenes we see the Adventure Force and GI Joe witnessing Transformers, including Centurion, whom they even see is sentient...this was before the Transformers were made public knowledge...shouldn't they be all freaking out?!
• We see that the Dire Wraith-Human hybrids are being kept in the Buenos Aires Onyx facility...didn't the Action Man Programme take them into custody in issue #1? I know Chan and Salmons are both present from the Programme, but they seem surprised by them here...
• The GI Joe team featured in the present day in this issue is most of the team from Scarlett's crew from the GI Joe comic series.
• The Action Man Team in 1994 are based on the Extreme version I remember from my childhood....I feel so old.....(at least I don't remember the original GI Joe toy though!)
• Bugly is revealed to have been a part of Bludgeon's team that came to Earth in the 80's. He appears to have a insectoid alternate mode, unlike the rest of his team. (Before you think he's just in his Pretender Shell, remember that those shells weren't created until about 20 years later, and were unstable even then)
• Due to his appearance with Kreiger and Colton, it's likely that the original Skywatch and Joshua Red was affiliated with Kreiger's villainous methods or even funded by them, explaining a comment from the All Hail Megatron Coda stories that implied that the previous leader of Skywatch wasn't American
• The radiation suits used by Colton and the others in the 2000's era flashback are designed to evoke the Baron Ironblood armour, leading to the reveal of who he really is...
• OH MY PRIMUS! BARON IRONBLOOD IS JOE COLTON!!! Well that would have been my reaction had this not been spoiled by the fact that First Strike began like a month ago now....This is the problem with comic release dates getting messed up....

IDW - Revolutionaries #6

Title: Power and Glory

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Agnes Garbowska, Ron Joseph & Fico Ossio

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B Long

Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Decades ago, Mikey Power is a child detective, who along with his loyal dog Smarts, solved local problems and help defeat the evil forces of the local bullies, Pidge and Finney.

One day. Mikey is approached by Pidge, who tells him that Finney is trapped in a haunted house, and he needs help rescuing him. At the haunted house, the two of them break in and find a ghost, but Mikey soon determines that the "ghost" is being created by a strange hologram projector on a bookcase, unaware that some shadowy figures are approaching him...

Mikey is saved when the Action Man of the era attacks the men, a pair of smugglers, and manages to capture them. Mikey rescues Finney and leaves, keeping the projector to study it...

Mikey, now going by Mike, takes the item home, where he analyses it, and manages to create new limbs for himself to replace his primitive ones. In the process, he grew more reclusive and ended up with Smarts running away, and him being left alone and friendless...

After some time, Mike has perfected his mechanical limbs and joins the Adventure Team with Joe Colton and the others.

During one of their missions, Atomic Man fails to reach Dr. Emil Burkhart from an explosion in front of his daughter, and causes the hero to realize that his current strength isn't enough.

Some time later, Atomic Man meets with Kreiger, who explains that he has made many replicas of the Talisman, and now understands it more...offering to make Mike stronger, by having him connect to one....

In the modern day Mayday meets with former Adventure Team member, Stalker, and wants more information about Project: Ice Man and his time on the Adventure Team, but he has no new information for her. He also confirms that Scarlett is unwilling to spare forces to help her investigate the assumed "final resting place" of Mike Power, however he does re-introduce her to Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker of MASK, who share pleasantries, having not seen each other since the Revolution at Monument Valley.

In Brasnya, the rest of the Revolutionaries are heading to the crater where the Axalon once vanished, and they use codes given by Tomax Paoli to enter the base undetected. Once inside, the two Cybertronians are knocked out by a strange light, which leaves Action Man alone....

However, he is not really alone, he turns around to find a fair of figures, whom he assumed to be Shockwave and Optimus Prime, in actuality their Eukarian copies, and the two giants attack him, leading to Action Man blasting a hole in the ceiling, causing the ocean above it to quickly fill the tunnel.

Kreiger orders Atomic Man, whom is now connected to the base, controlling all of it's functions, to drain the tunnel and have his controlled Eukarians return to him, and make sure Action Man is dead from the salt water. Before much can happen though, MASK arrive and attack the facility. Gloria rescues Action Man from  the water, forcing Kreiger to use all his stored power to over-power the Eukarians.

The humans arrive at the command centre of the secret outpost, where Kreiger has Atomic Man, a shock to see by everyone there, engage them in battle, having utilized the full power of the Talisman copy that is in the facility.

MASK fight the Eukarians, since their technology was designed to fight Cybertronians, so Mayday goes after Kreiger himself. Action Man approaches Atomic Man, and appeals to his human nature, and relates how he understands what it's like to be thrust into a new role and with all this responsibility, and yet also feel weak. Atomic Man agrees with this, and thanks his old dog, Smarts, once more and hopes to get it right the next time...and lets himself die from the energies of the Talisman.

Atomic Man's death cause sthe Eukarians to collapse and the Iron Troopers inside them to also die. Nearby Mayday has defeated Kreiger as the facility begins to shut down. Action Man mourns for the death of a legend, but is soon in greater shock when the long missing Sgt Savage appears from a burst of energy, spurting slang from the 90's...just as Blackrock and Kup wake up from their direct attacks!

Characters

Autobot

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned) Dead

Eukarian

"Shockwave's" Corpse - Steel Warship Deactivated by Atomic Man's Death

Domitius Major's Corpse - Train Deactivated by Atomic Man's Death

Centurion - Luxury Car (Mentioned)

Human

Mike Power/Atomic Man Suicide via Talisman Energies

Ian Noble/Action Man

Ayana Jones/Mayday

Matt Trakker

Gloria Baker

Lonzo Wilkinson/Stalker

Garrison Kreiger/ Blitz Defeated by Mayday

Sgt Robert Savage

Joe Colton/GI Joe (Flashback)

Miles Manheim/ Mayhem (Flashback)

Brasnyan Spies (Flashback) Defeated by Older Action Man

Older Action Man (Flashback)

Annie (Flashback)

Police Officer (Flashback)

Pidge (Flashback)

Finney (Flashback)

Dr Emil Burkhart (Flashback) Killed in Explosion

Adele Burkhart (Flashback)

MASK Team (Mentioned)

Scarlett (Mentioned)

Tomax Paoli (Mentioned) In Revolutionaries Custody

Mike Brogan/Action Man (Mentioned) Dead

Mr and Mrs Power (Mentioned)

Other

Iron Troopers Deactivated by Atomic Man's Death

Smarts, the Dog (Flashback) Ran Away from Mike Power Decades ago

Notes

• This issue features a few different art styles. Atomic Man's childhood adventures are shown in a child-like traditional comic strip form, his two page story book excerpt shows his early experimentation with the Iron Trooper technology, and gives a big chunk of back story for him, and his meeting with Joe Colton is a direct pull of his early advertisement, with all the other scenes being done in the regular style of this series.
• Mike Power is shown to have had bionic limbs from childhood. We also learn that he used the Iron Troopers to create his own more advanced limbs, which would later be supercharged by his contact with the Talisman, as seen in an earlier issue.
• He also had a doggo names "Smarts" as a kid, whom is based on the Pound Puppies character "Lucky Smarts"
• Mayday reveals that her work with the Revolutionaries has been authorized by Scarlett, but she isn't keeping her in the loop regarding some of the missions, such as the attack on Kalistan and the arrest of Tomax.
• MASK were under the radar for a while, whilst VENOM was tarnishing their name for a bit, but were cleared of any crimes etc by the end of their first story-arc.
• The Iron Trooper heads are shown to be able to project holograms from them. Since they are based on a piece of Eukarian, and thereby Cybertronian, technology, it is likely associated with holo-avatar technology.
• So the reason for the Eukarian bodies being kept is shown! They are being used as remote controlled guards by Atomic Man on Kreiger's orders!
• Action Man mentions that Shockwave is meant to be dead, this is now a debateable detail, since Bumblebee has been confirmed as still being alive inside the Crystal City Singularity.
• Mayday's comment about Action Man using the "Magic of Friendship" to save the day seems like a direct reference to My Little Pony, which is still one of the only main series IDW Hasbro comics to not be in the Hasbroverse 

IDW - Revolutionaries #5

Title: Strange Visitors

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Fico Ossio & Guido Guidi

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng & Guido Guidi

Letters by: Tom B Long

Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

During the last Ice Age on Earth a Eukarian shuttle, the Axalon, carrying the device that will one day be known as the Talisman, on orders from their master, when they detect a signal being sent to Prowl on an automated loop. The crew comment on how the figures in the footage look familiar, even looking like their commander, Domitius Major, but before anything else can really happen, another ship, piloted by Shockwave attacks the Axalon and causes it to crash on Earth, Shockwave follows to investigate the remains.

Shockwave finds the crew inside injured, but being quickly repaired by the Talisman. One of the Eukarians, Centurion, wakes up and sees the footage, and is confused when he sees Bumblebee, whom he has a striking resemblance to, and asks if he is Bumblebee...giving Shockwave a horrible idea....

Shockwave alters the minds of the Eukarians, along with their bodies to become analogues of several prominent Autobots and Decepticons, and watches how they interact and fight, so as to study how the war could progress. After a while, the Eukarians begin to run low on Energon and head into a cave to enter stasis lock. Shockwave leaves, noting the small drones being created by the Talisman from the Axalon, and plans to return once he tends to his Regenesis Ores on the planet...an errand he never returns from....

After a long time, the Eukarians wake up in the Steel Revolution and they take on the roles of their namesakes even without Shockwave's prompting, they help John Henry with his railroad work, fight off an Elder God, and eventually wind up in WW2...where their fake memories begin to unwind, resulting in many of them dying, including the robot who believes himself to be Optimus Prime.

Sgt Savage and his Screaming Eagles approach a fortress in France where they encounter more of the Iron Troopers they found in Kalistan, but more shockingly, they encounter Centurion and the Eukarian that was made to resemble Shockwave fighting, with Centurion destroying his enemy, leaving him the last known Eukarian on the planet...

Centurion/Bumblebee asks Savage and his team to return him to his ship so he can die there in peace, as he now remembers where it is...

Savage, Kreiger and Centurion arrive in Brasnya, which is where the Axalon crashed, and Centurion soon locates the downed ship, as well as taking down more of the Iron Troopers, seemingly guarding the ship. Unfortunately, the Iron Troopers have combined, and taken over the corpse of "Optimus Prime", angering Centurion who sees this as desecrating a war hero. Despite attacking them however, all "Optimus" does is activates a program within the Axalon which transports it, and Sgt Savage who was still inside away to an unknown location. Out of rage, Centurion tears apart the mockery of his friend, and begins to scream in anger. Kreiger sees this, and proposes to Centurion that they work together now, since both are alone in the world....

In the modern day, Tomax Paoli arrives at his office  where he encounters a hologram of Kreiger who warns him that a team involving Action Man and a GI Joe member are approaching him, and they need to be fended off. Tomax is unhappy as he doesn't want to resume the Cobra Commander guise, but he is forced into the role. Tomax gets kitted out, and soon encounters Action Man, who he quickly shoots out of a window, only for the young hero to be caught by Kup outside. Mayday attacks Tomax in retaliation, whilst Centurion transforms outside, and assumes that Kup is just another lost Eukarian and proceeds to attack him, and put him out of his misery.

Whilst the rest of the team are fighting Centurion and Tomax, Blackrock is interfacing with the Iron database in order to discover the hidden truths about the Talisman and the other secrets they've been uncovering lately. Unfortunately, it is what he was worried about, the Talisman came from Onyx Prime, the same being who planted Blackrock on Earth and manipulated his life. The small Autobot heads off to be a hero now....

Inside, Mayday manages to disable Tomax by shooting him in the neck and captures him Outside, Blackrock approaches the fighting robots, and he reveals that he and Centurion have a shared "parentage" of Onyx Prime, and that they can take him to meet the real Optimus so he can help him. Centurion agrees, having never learned about the "real" Cybertronians before now.

Soon, the Revolutionaries and Centurion head off, with Tomax as their prisoner, but he knows nothing about what Kreiger or Ironblood's plans are, they simply used him to distract the Revolutionaries. The team now plan to head towards Brasnya to locate the Axalon, and finally resolve all of this.

In Brasnya, Doctor X and her troops are preparing the final steps of their master-plan, but decide to leave their facility, since they doubt the Revolutionaries would be too happy with how they've been keeping the Atomic Man hidden there are experimented on!!

Characters

Autobot

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Optimus Prime - Truck (Recording Only)

Bumblebee - Car (Recording Only)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Flashback Only)

Eukarian

Centurion/"Bumblebee" - Luxury Car, former Prehistoric Monster, Locomotive

Domitius Major/"Optimus Prime" - Locomotive, former Mammoth Died in WW2

"Shockwave" - Battleship, former Prehistoric Creature (Flashback Only) Killed by Centurion

"Prowl" - Prehistoric Creature (Flashback Only) Dead

"Ironhide" - Prehistoric Creature (Flashback Only) Dead

"Ratchet" - Prehistoric Creature (Flashback Only) Dead

"Soundwave" - Prehistoric Creature (Flashback Only) Dead

"Bombshell" - Prehistoric Insect (Flashback Only) Dead

"Starscream" - Bi-Plane, former Prehistoric Winged Creature (Flashback Only) Dead

"Trailblazer" - Locomotive (Flashback Only) Dead

"Wheeljack" - Locomotive (Flashback Only) Dead

"Hound" - Locomotive (Flashback Only) Dead

Other Eukarians - Prehistoric Creatures (Flashback Only) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

GI Joe/Action Man Program

Action Man

Mayday

Flint (Mentioned)

Chameleon (Mentioned)

Unnamed Villain Team

Tomax Paoli/Cobra Commander Captured by Revolutionaries

Garrison Kreiger

Doctor X

Baron Ironblood

Iron Klaw

Storm Shadow

Red Shadows (Mentioned)

Other Human

Atomic Man Imprisoned by Villains

Violet

Violet's Sister (Mentioned)

Sgt Savage (Flashback Only) Vanished with the Axalon

The Screaming Eagles (Flashback Only)

John Henry (Flashback Only)

Other

Elder God (Flashback Only)

Talisman's Offspring (Flashback Only)

Iron Troopers (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Okay...wow...this story actually blew my mind when I read it. No joke here. They actually implanted the old Hearts of Steel stories, including the Infestation 2 story into the main IDW continuity, and made it work...I swear John Barber is a witch...
• The flashback scenes in this comic are all done by Guido Guidi in his retro comic style, like he used in the old MTMTE and RID Annual issues.
• The Axalon was the name of the ship used by the Maximals in Beast Wars, and it also shared the same design as the Eukarian ship here. Shockwave's ship is based on the Darkseid, the ship used by the Predacons in the same series.
• So, yeah, the entirety of the Hearts of Steel story is revealed to have just been a cruel experiment by Shockwave to try and gauge how the war would progress....HOLY SHIT DUDE!!!
• Also, thanks to the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook, we were spoiled about all of this a WEEK EARLY. bloody publication dates....
• The Talisman is confirmed to be a device created by Onyx Prime, and carried to Earth by the Eukarian crew of the Axalon, which was separated from the ship by Shockwave, waiting to be found centuries later by Kreiger and the Adventure Team.
• So, on top of Shockwave manipulating their memories (I assume he used some sort of Mnemosurgery) he also repainted the Eukarians to match the Cybertronians...he may have too much time on his hands...hand....
• When Shockwave leaves the Eukarians alone to go into stasis, he is going to meet his fate and the Dynobots as shown in his Spotlight issue.
• Included in the flashbacks of Centurion are recreations of scenes from Hearts of Steel and Infestation 2, and shows an otherwise undocumented set of scenes from WW2 where the Eukarians are drawn into the war, and their original memories are stirred. The only thing that was implied to be in the Hearts of Steel universe was the Conspiracy crossover comic, which was set in the X-Files IDW comic universe...so it's an aberration and should be ignored okay?
• So, the teaser of the villains having HOS Optimus Prime/Domitius Major was  pretty much a red herring, since he's already long dead, but they do shockingly have the thought-to-be dead Atomic Man in their warehouse...something that was ALSO spoiled by the Sourcebook! No wonder the remainder of the series has been held off to pretty much the end of the pre-First Strike stories!
• So...does anyone else want to see a scene where Centurion is taken to Cybertron just to troll Starscream with his "hallucination" getting a physical form now?

IDW - Revolutionaries #4

Title: The Iron Klaw

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B Long

Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The villains are based out in Mklavia in Kalistan, under the protection of Iron Klaw, who has somehow gained the Predacons as guards. Ironblood receives a message from Kreiger, saying that Tomax needs an emergency evac from his mission, which Ironblood is annoyed by, but he activates the MASS Device anyway...unaware that Snake Eyes is hiding in the rafters of the castle.

Outside, Kup, Action Man and Mayday are waiting for a signal, and Kup is shown an image of the Predacons, who he identifies, and explains that he trained them before the war, but after the war ended they wound up on Earth working for China, trying to develop combining technologies before the discovery of the Enigma of Combination.

Tomax arrives through the MASS Device, and is chewed out for losing his helmet and Centurion, but he is soon forgiven when he reveals that he has Garrison Blackrock as a prisoner, who they plan to dissect to figure out how he works...

On their way to the castle, Mayday explains her history with Mklavia, saying how she was on an observational team when she first worked for GI Joe, and so knows the area quite well. She then goes on to explain about how Tomax acted as though Cobra were the heroes, and the Joes, and the Western world in general were bad, until they ended up being destroyed when Snake Eyes infiltrated the group and caused an incident involving the death of another mole in the group.

Inside the castle, Blackrock is hooked up to a Talisman look-a-like, and Kreiger uses his mind to try and uncover more of the secrets of the device. Snake Eyes makes a noise, and is discovered, causing the Iron Grenadiers to attack him in response, meanwhile, the rest of the villains realise that Snake Eyes wouldn't be alone, so they deploy the Predacons too...

Outside, the team have lost contact with their team inside, so they decide to attack the castle. Kup breaks down a wall, but finds the Predacons combined into Predaking!

Inside the castle, Snake Eyes is dead, and Kreiger asks Tomax to report on Project: Ice Man, which he appears to be confused about. Ironblood examines the body of Snake Eyes, and discovers that he is a robot! "Tomax" rips off his face, and reveals that he is actually Snake Eyes, who has been using a voice modulator to allow Kup to impersonate Tomax for him (until he turns it off) and he attacks the Iron villains.

Back outside, Kup and Action Man fight Predaking, with Kup noticing that the combiner isn't right, since the Predacons would never work together like this, and determines that they are being controlled some how. Mayday leaves to go inside, and see if there's some way to break the control.

Inside again, Snake Eyes frees Blackrock from his harness, and he joins the battle, along with Mayday when she reaches them. She reveals about the presumed control on the Predacons, so Blackrock approaches the control harness and prepares to slowly release their control...until Snake Eyes just bludgeons the controls, freeing them instantly.

Outside, the Predacons, released from their control, de-combine and are left knocked out due to the shock. Razorcalw however quickly wakes up, and thrashes at Action Man and Kup. Razorclaw is soon concerned about how Kup got there, until Kup exploits his one weakness...he shoots off his head.

The Revolutionaries inside the castle make it to the MASS Device, and are teleported outside the castle, where Kup and Action Man recover them, and they speed away, having learned where the Talisman came from, and where Tomax and his mystery allies are going to be...

In the aftermath, the villains meet up, and decide to "burn" Centurion and Tomax, despite the cost that would cause, but Ironblood isn't worried, as they still have more "surprises".

Elsewhere, Doctor X and Stormshadow are at a facility, where a frozen alternate version of Optimus Prime is sitting.....

Characters

Autobot

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Titan Master Head

"Project Ice Man"/HOS Optimus Prime - Train Frozen

"Centurion"/HOS Bumblebee - Cabless Train Car (Mentioned)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt

Razorclaw - Lion Head Blown off by Kup

Tantrum - Bison

Rampage - Tiger

Divebomb - Hawk

Headstrong - Rhino

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

GI Joe/Action Man Program

Mayday

Action Man

Snake Eyes

Joe Colton (Flashback Only)

Duke (Flashback Only)

Big Ben (Flashback Only)

Roadblock (Flashback Only)

Doc (Flashback Only)

Hashtag (Flashback Only)

Zilong Qian (Mentioned)

Unnamed Villain Group/Cobra

Iron Klaw

Baron Ironblood

Garrison Kreiger

Doctor X

Storm Shadow

Iron Grenadiers Many killed by Snake Eyes

Tomax Paoli (Flashback and Disguise Only)

Destro (Flashback Only)

Cobra's P.R. Flack (Mentioned)

Other Human

Mklavian Residents

Isaac Craft (Flashback Only) Seemingly Killed by Snake Eyes

Earth Defense Command (Mentioned)

Skywatch (Mentioned)

Other

Snake Eyes Drone Killed by Iron Grenadiers

Onyx Prime (Flashback Only)

Octopus Aliens (Flashback Only) Killed by Predacons

Notes

• The narration boxes in this issue are actually a transmission being sent to Optimus Prime by Kup
• Iron Klaw, Baron Ironblood and the Iron Grenadiers? I think there's a theme going on here.
• Also of note, the Hearts of Steel characters are being used by them, Iron and Steel are very similar metals...another connection?
• Last time we saw some of the Predacons, they were amongst the attempted attack on Earth led by Galvatron at the end of the Transformers Ongoing. I guess they were abducted by the villains in this story after that fight?
• A large deal of this story is set in flashback form, showing some otherwise missing history from both Transformers and GI Joe, which includes the abandoned story lines from GI Joe's past volumes.
• "Tomax's" outfit is based on his outfit shown in the original GI Joe animated series.
• More of Mayday's back story is given here, she worked at Skywatch (likely the one before Spike took over) and then joined a Joe team with Big Ben and Duke, she left when the team was exposed by Cobra, and joined the EDC, and we know what's happened since then.
• Snake Eyes is revealed to have been under deep cover working at Cobra at the end of the previous GI Joe volume for the Joes, which led to it's disbanding before the current storyline.
• Kreiger is revealed to have made a replica of the Talisman which he has been experimenting on since he lost it to the Adventure Team
• Kreiger and Ironblood see Snake Eyes' disfigured face for a few moments this issue, but we don't get to...not sure if that's good or not yet....
• Blackrock reports that the Talisman comes from Onyx Prime, who was his master before taking on his human persona, and it seems to be able to unlock hidden memories from his past life too.
• Oh...Hearts of Steel Optimus is here too? And he is frozen, and referred to as "Ice Man" just like Megatron from the Live Action Movies.
• It seems like more Transformers from the Hearts of Steel universe have made it to the Hasbroverse, either through a multiversal portal of some sort, or the two universes getting merged due to one of the big universe destroying events from the past few years.
• A brief mention is made to a helmet being used by Tomax in relation to "Centurion" (HOS Bumblebee). This is likely what the Cobra Commander helmet from last issue is for.