IDW - Optimus Prime #14

Title: The Dead Come Home Part 2

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Prowl and his team of misfits and "forgotten" Cybertronians and allies fight the Beast Horde and manage to recue the last three surviving Throttlebots and manage to leave the planet on their shuttle so they can continue their mission to take down the "real threat".

Back on Cybertron, Optimus and his team try to restrain Slug, who has started attacking the other Dinobots, unknown to them being controlled by Bludgeon. The Dinobots join in trying to restrain Slug, whilst Sludge sneaks away to protect the "newcomers". Arcee notices him leave and follows him. Sandstorm starts to turn on Optimus, still seeing him as a corrupt leader and believes that Optimus set up this attack, until Centurion stops their fight and forces the teams to work together to calm down the crazed Dinobot.

Arcee follows Sludge into a cavern where she is ambushed by a small black and red protoforms, but is stopped from hurting the young Cybertronian by Trypticon, who reveals that he is protecting them, along with the Dinobots. 

Arcee has been transmitting this to Optimus, who now has a plan, he sends Blackrock back into Iacon so he can retrieve Marissa Faireborn, as he distracts Slug further.

Back in Iacon, Starscream barges into Bludgeon's cell and destroys the Void Scepter, breaking his control on Slug, explaining that he doesn't want him to kill Optimus, he wants Optimus to return to Iacon with the protoforms so they can be used as a political move, but now it is all ruined.

Trypticon rises from the ground and declares that the fighting must stop, as he will not let anyone hurt his "children", leading Optimus to explain his plan.... Blackrock returns with Marissa, and Optimus proposes that Trypticon take to his city-mode and Marissa declares the city as Earth's embassy on Cybertron, allowing the protoforms to be safe there and be protected from Starscream's influence due to being on "Earth's soil". Everyone agrees to this, even though Sandstorm thinks this is just Optimus using them for a political move.

Slug, now having calmed down is welcomed back by the Dinobots and they know that he was being manipulated somehow... Back in Iacon, Bludgeon watches the scene from his "cameras" in Slug and comments on how his master will soon return...leaving Bumblebee's ghost worried again...

Pyra Magna, Skyburst and Stormclash return to Earth through the spacebridge where they report that Optimus is still busy with the recovery on Cybertron, so he's not returning yet. Pyra leaves her group to reunite, whilst she deals with some other business...

In her quarters, she contacts Prowl to report that Optimus has set up an embassy for Earth on Cybertron, and the current climate is that Cybertron needs Earth's support for energy following the arrival of New Prysmos in the planet's core. Prowl confirms that with Pyra's information he's eliminated Eukaris as the root of the Beast Horde, so they still need to figure that out.

Both of them are now planning for any eventuality, as the Horde could be coming for Earth or Cybertron, and they both need to keep their best interests under observation...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Slug - Triceratops

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Goldbug - Car

Chase - Car

Rollbar - Jeep

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Stormclash - Helicopter

Skyburst - Helicopter

Dust Up - Sports Car

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost" Only)

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Other Throttlebots (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Bludgeon - Tank In Custody

Beast Horde

Hydra -Pteranodon Killed by Stardrive

Insecticon - Beetle Killed by Prowl

Transquito - Mosquito Killed by Prowl

Drancron - Lizard-Dragonfly Killed by Stardrive

Sharp Edge - Sawshark Killed by Stardrive

Other Beasts Likely Killed by Prowl's Team

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Stardrive - Jet/Car

Trypticon - Earth Embassy

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Sandstorm - Helicopter/Buggy

Centurion - Luxury Car

Protoform Sideswipe

New Protoforms

Junkions (Mentioned)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Mayday/Ayana Jones (Mentioned)

Lady Jaye (Mentioned)

Other

Garnak

Teletraan (Voice Only)

Bludgeon's Master (Mentioned)

Notes

• So turns out Stardrive WAS infected with Wraith matter at the end of "Shining Armor", but appears to have better control over it than anyone else we've seen so far.
• Prowl's arm weapon is revealed to be the Vamparc Ribbon, which was previously seen uring Autocracy, it just happens to look a lot like the cannon on Megatron's Chaos event armour. We also get a reappearance of Zeta Prime's stash of weapons that Prowl was last seen contemplating using in Autocracy too. Turns out he kept them for a rainy day...
• The planet "Botanica" is revealed to actually be named "Regulus V"
• So further adding to the return of seemingly dead characters here...Trypticon returns! He was last seen giving his body to used by the new generation of Cybertronians as raw materials...guess they only used a small bit of his body then, since there's no noticeable damage to him!
• Bumblebee's "ghost" is revealed to have told Starscream what Bludgeon was doing from last issue. Though Starscream dismisses this as just that "he figured it out himself" it really does add more to him not just being a figment of his imagination and him actually communicating with him from "the dead"
• Trypticon is now being used as Earth's embassy on Cybertron. So they are technically using my suggestion from a while back of using the Titans for central buildings in new settlements then! (Still no sign of the dead Titan swarm being used for more cities yet though!)
• Pyra Magna has some Cybertronian-equivalent incense sticks in her quarters...that's a cute touch!
• Oh and also, Prowl and Pyra Magna are working together behind the scenes it seems...I am not shocked that two majorly corrupt Autobots are in collusion! Pyra even mentioned in the last issue that she wants Arcee to keep an eye on Optimus and herself, showing just how Prowl-like she's become!
• It is confirmed that the Beast Horde that keeps appearing is not from Eukaris, implying they are from another group of Onyx Prime followers. I'll think we'll get more information soon though, since Onyx Prime is said to return in the next issue...yay!
• Bludgeon mentions his "master" again. I would assume this will be in some way related to Unicron since he's the focus of the major "event" for this year. And let's face it, the last couple of continuities to feature Bludgeon (Dreamwave's G1 and Armada lines) both had him connected to Unicron too
• The "new Sideswipe" is based on the character's G2 colour scheme, which was used by Sideswipe during the post Chaos era.
• Tyrpticon is mentioned as being a former Decepticon, and due to his "nicer" attitude, we can probably assume that he isn't powered with Pentius' spark any more.

IDW - Optimus Prime #13

Title: The Dead Come Home Part 1

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Throttlebots, who have been stranded on a planet they crashed on during the Decepticon's big surge that wiped out most Autobot outposts have lost all hope of survival. Their last contact told them that Garrus-9 had fallen, Earth was under complete invasion, and they assume that the Decepticons have won the war. Suddenly one day, whilst waiting for their own deaths, "Decepticons" appear from the chasms of the planet, who immediately kill Searchlight, and chase after the other surviving Throttlebots...

On Cybertron, Sideswipe is finally given a funeral following the events of First Strike, and it is presided over by Optimus Prime himself, everyone is grieving over their lost friend, brother or ally, and Optimus tries to console them. He is taken back when he learns from Arcee that Galvatron was her twin brother and she just let Optimus kill him in front of her. Before they can discuss it though, Optimus becomes conscious of the massive crowd gathering due to the Prime presiding over a regular funeral, so they leave to discuss this is private.

On the way to their privacy, Optimus almost runs over a "human", revealed to be Blackrock, who reports that Centurion, who has recovered from his injuries has contacted him from the wilderness of Cybertron, with an image of a protoforms. The Autobots are confused as Protoforms haven't appeared on Cybertron in centuries, until Swift appears and reveals that she and the Dinobots found them, and that Starscream has been keeping their existence a secret...

At the chambers of the Council of Worlds, the council discuss how they can deal with the alien city now tainting the core of the planet, but to no real avail. Elita wants to invade Earth in return for their invasion, whilst Starscream wants to try opening up talks with the Solstar Order for repercussions for them quarantining Cybertron during the invasion.

Starscream leaves the meeting, where he comes across Optimus and Blackrock, who confront him over hiding the existence of new life from them. Starscream explains it as him not having enough time to discuss it, since they've just been invaded by Titans and humans, but he leads them to someone who can help them locate them for themselves, since they have gone missing recently.

Starscream leads Optimus and Blackrock to a chamber where the thought-to-be dead Dinobot Slug is being held, who says he found Bludgeon messing with the protoforms and that he hired Sandstorm to kill him, and that the other Dinobots must have the protoforms. Optimus offers himself and Blackock to help Slug recover them.

In the courtyard, where the celebrations of Earth joining the council of worlds was being held, Pyra, Stormclash and Skyburst are walking the destruction, and dead bodies, when they encounter Arcee, who offers them to join her on Optimus' mission into the wilderness, but the conversation soon turns to how the war is changing all of them. Arcee believes that in peace there is no place for her, but Pyra counters that she has changed too, that during the battles Arcee refrained from using lethal force on the humans, whilst Pyra lost control, and that she believes Arcee's role is to reign in bots like her and Optimus, and keep them on the right track.

Soon, the team are tracking the Dinobots and Centurion in the wilderness, when they just find them. With Centurion pointing out that he called them, so they would find him. They begin to reunite, when Slug suddenly attacks the group, which includes Sandstorm, as he cannot believe his team would side with his murderer...

Back in Iacon, in a hidden chamber, Bludgeon is manipulating the situation with his Void Sceptre, all whilst Bumblebee's "ghost" is commenting that none of this is part of Starscream's plan...

Back on the Throttlebot's planet "Botanica", the team fight off the "Decepticons" but are overwhelmed by them and are taken down one by one. Before Goldbug can be killed, he tells his opponent to tell Megatron that they went down fighting, but the "Decepticon" has no idea who he's talking about.

The "Decepticon" is suddenly shot from nowhere, and Goldbug is shocked to be rescued by Prowl, Wheelie, Garnak and Stardrive, who appear to be recruiting them to help save the galaxy from these creatures....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Slug - Triceratops

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter

Goldbug - Car

Rollbar - Jeep

Chase - Car

Searchlight - Car Killed by Beast Army

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost" Only)

Sideswipe - Sports Car (Mentioned) Body Interred in Tomb

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Metroplex - Iacon City (Mentioned)

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned)

The Other Torchbearers (Mentioned)

Freeway - Car (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Wideload - Dump Truck (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Decepticon

Swift - Helicopter

Bludgeon - Tank

Sixshot - Sixchanger (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Centurion - Luxury Car

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Knock Out - Sports Car

Obsidian - Stealth Osprey Helicopter

Elita One 

Mistress of Flame

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Bob, the Insecticon

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Roulette - Muscle Car

Gimlet - Lobster

Bump - Armadillo

Funeral Crowd

A Protoform (Image Only)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Antagony - Ant (Mentioned) Dead

The Titan Swarm (Mentioned) Dead

Beast Army

Cicadacon - Cicada Shot by Prowl

Sharp Edge - Saw Shark

Drancron - Lizard-Dragonfly

Hydra - Pteranodon

Other Beasts

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ian Noble/Action Man (Mentioned)

Ayana Jones/Mayday (Mentioned)

The Iron Ring (Mentioned)

Red Shadow Ninjas (Mentioned)

Other

Garnak

"Bludgeon's Master" (Mentioned)

Solstar Order (Mentioned)

Notes

• Oh wow, the title didn't lie! The dead really do come home today! Or....I mean the guys who either were near death or have been gone for a while anyway...First, the Throttlebots were last seen in Spotlight: Metroplex, where they were under attack from Sixshot and were abandoned on a planet by the titular character, Sunstreaker is shown to have survived his apparent death in First Strike, Centurion has woken up from his stasis lock, Slug is back to life after being killed by Sandstorm, the long forgotten Wheelie and Garnak reappear (they were last seen on Gorlam Prime's black hole precipice during Dark Cybertron) and Stardrive, who we learn in Shining Armor #5 left to be alone 200 years ago! WOW!
• The name of the Throttlebot's planet, Botanica, is a reference to the Beast Machines character of the same name.
• It is confirmed that Freeway and Wideload died from their injuries sustained from the fight with Sixshot, and also confirmed that Sixshot did survive his attack from Metroplex. But he apparently ended up dying during a fight with the Throttlebots later....suuuuuuure.
• Goldbug is shown using a pair of  walking sticks here. This is amusing since usually he's an upgraded version of Bumblebee outside of IDW, and Bumblebee has been shown with a walking stick for quite a while now.
• The guy who Optimus quotes during Sideswipe's funeral was Sentinel Prime...it seems safe to assume that he didn't acknowledge that himself due to the recent actions of the former commander...
• Amongst the funeral goers are the Colonist Autobot-recruits, except for Slide...wonder where she is?
• Optimus seems shocked that Arcee is Galvatron's twin....did he forget that major plot point in Alpha Trion's story about the formation of the unified Cybertron of the past?! It's possible that he just assumed that Trion was embellishing with characters they might know, but come on!
• Antagony gets name-dropped and is revealed to have died during the human invasion. This confirms the identity of the Transformer that Shazraella controlled during the event.
• It is briefly mentioned that Centurion was revived from his stasis lock when Merklynn's energy shot through Cybertron...implying that it lasted a couple of hours at best....
• It is also confirmed that the Revolutionaries are remaining a team, but Kup is staying on Cybertronian for the moment to help investigate New Prysmos at the core of Cybertron in the upcoming Transformers vs The Visionaries series.
• Arcee being relieved that Action Man is off the planet is likely due to his constant flirting with her throughout the Optimus Prime and Transformers First Strike tie-ins.
• The protoforms, and the Dinobot's involvement with them, along with Swift's knowledge of the events was covered in the "Dinobot Trilogy"
• Why is Mistress of Flame at the council meeting? She's not a member, Windblade is Caminus' representative. She was only filling in whilst Windblade was comatose following the Titan invasion. I can assume that Elita is present in Strika's place since she is absent in this issue, but Windblade is clearly seen.
• Starscream brings up how the Solstar Order owes Cybertron after they quarantined them during First Strike. He also alludes to how he knows the Order have the knowledge of creating a working Energon Synthesizer from the events of the Shining Armor mini-series.
• Marissa claims that 47 humans were involved in the attack on Cybertron....even if we assume all the Iron Grenadiers wee just robots...I'm pretty sure there were way more than just that number of Red Shadows on the planet!
• The size of the bodies under the sheets in the courtyard highly implies that the bodies the Torchbearers are dealing with are humans. We can't be sure if they are from the Iron Ring or innocents, but we did see Pyra willingly killing some Iron Ring members during the battle...
• The wilderness of Cybertron looks a lot different to usual now...this could be just because of the different artist from the last time we saw it, but more than likely this is a side-effect of Merklynn's energy surging through the planet.
• Bludgeon is revealed to still have possession of his Void Sceptre, and has learned to use it to control the Dinobots to an extent, as well as Trypticon. This is likely due to the Dinobots once being tainted by Trypticon's energon in the past.
• Bumblebee's "ghost" is shown to be monitoring Bludgeon...alone...without Starscream present...further adding to the idea that he isn't just a manifestation of his guilt.
• Bludgeon mentions "his master"...I wonder if he's involved in Scorponok's schemes from Lost Light as well?
• Since the last time we saw him, it looks like Prowl has lost an eye and one of his arms. His replacement arm looks somewhat like Megatron's mega-armour from the Chaos event.
• Stardrive is shown in her original pre-armour colours here, spoiling that she will remove her armour and return it to Rom in Shining Armor #5, which was released a week after this issue came out.

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 #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 #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?