IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars 2022 Annual

Title: Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Written by: Sam Maggs

Art by: Lanna Souvanny

Title: Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Written by: David Mariotte

Art by: Phillip Johnson

Title: The Morphlings

Written by: Nick Marino

Art by: Andrea Bell

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Skold decides that she is going to make this day go well, but I'd immediately assaulted by Terrorsaur, and pushed into a cell with Powerhug.

The other Predacons watch her, upset in the cell, on the security system.

Powerhug talks to Skold, and makes her feel better about herself, and is quickly decapitated by the Predacon, to use his circuitry to free herself from the cell, to the shock of the other Predacons, and the decapitated Powerhug.

Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Whilst out looking for fallen Protoform Pods, Rhinox ends up falling into a maze trap, set up by the Spider Predacons, where he also finds Waspinator, who was also trapped by the Spiders.

The two work together, and make it to the exit. Waspinator flies out, but leaves Rhinox behind to get out himself, much to Rhinox's annoyance.

The Morphlings

Whilst waiting for Optimus to return from a mission, the Maximals sit around a campfire, leading Cheetor to start telling a "spooky" story.

Cheetor starts telling a fan-fic about the Beast Wars cast, but kills them all off screen, except a few characters, before having them all killed or corrupted by small creatures called Morphlings.

Cheetor muses on whether his story could ever happen, with the others unimpressed.

Characters

Maximal

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Powerhug - Pill Bug Decapitated by Skold

Optimus Primal - Ape (Mentioned)

Fallen Protoform Pods (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Waspinator - Wasp

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon 

Scorponok - Scorpion

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Fictional Characters

Megasavage

Servicons

Nightshriek - Bat Corrupted by Megasavage

Botanicus - Plant Killed by Servicons

Silverklaw - Bird Killed by Morphlings

Unnamed Ape Dead

Unnamed Spider Dead

Unnamed Rat Dead

Unnamed Cat Dead

Notes

• This special issue of Beast Wars presents us with some side stories set at uncertain points in the series. At the most, we can assume they are all set following Blackarachnia's introduction, but with the first one set before Terrorsaur's death.
• The Maximal Powerhug being on the Darksyde is never explained. Is he a prisoner? A corrupted Protoform that has just arrived there? One of the Children of the Vok? Does he die at the end of the issue, after Skold decapitates him? Why are the Predacons shocked at her killing one of their enemies?
• In the second story, we see Waspinator speaking like he does in the original cartoon, which hasn't really been a thing in this series this far. Also his dismissive nature in the first story COULD be out of character, but that was also just in Skold's imagination.
• The third story's fictional tale is, obviously, based on the Beast Machines cartoon, with all the characters representing characters from the show, but with the Defiance (the Maximal counterparts) being completely destroyed in this story.
• The only character to transform during the fictional story is Nightshriek, so it's not really confirmed if any of the others even can transform (I'd assume so though)
• The preview included in this comic is for the upcoming Beast Wars 16, which is actually two issues after this comic was released, spoiling that Megatron and Optimus escape their captures from issue 14.
• Among the character designs shown in the extra features is Amordillo, a character who has yet to appear in the series yet. Due to his electric green eyes however, I'm going to guess that he's a Child of the Vok who will be revealed before the finale.
• Interestingly, Optimus Primal never appears in this special, even as a cameo (assuming you don't count the Morphlings Optimus stand-in). Also, Dinobot doesn't even get a mention in any of these stories!

IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #13

Title: The Speedway of Central Consciousness

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals and Predacons battle it out on an Energon crystal field, but at one point an errant blast hits one of the crystals, knocking out Cheetor...

Cheetor wakes up on Cybertron, before the launch of the Axalon, but still remembers the events of the Beast Wars. Upon waking up, he is asked by multiple people about how Protoforms are modified, confusing the former racer, but eventually he remembers the explosion, and thinks that he's just dreaming following the trauma.

Soon, one of the Vok, Pakak, appears before him in a dark version of his own form and tries to force him to give up the information for him to use on the Protoforms in the real world, since he cannot unlock the information, for now. During his torture, Cheetor realizes that Palak needs him to live to get the information, which further infuriates Pakak.

The Vok offers Cheetor a deal, if he can win in a race against him, he will be awoken, but if Cheetor loses, he has to give up the information. Cheetor agrees, but soon regrets it when Pakak changes his form to Blurr's, the greatest racer in history.

After a close race, Cheetor manages to win, but Pakak reveals that he didn't care, as their race was along circuitry inside of Cheetor's own mind, allowing him to access the information he wanted. Pakak still frees Cheetor from his mind as a reward to winning, but causes a hard reboot of his systems upon reawakening, just after Cheetor mentions the word "Vok" to Optimus Primal and Rhinox, before returning to Subspace for their master plan with the Protoforms...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Cheetor - Cheetah (Race Car in Dream)

Rhinox - Rhino

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Dinobot - Velociraptor

CatSCAN - Car (Dream Only)

Science Ministry (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skorponok - Scorpion

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Waspinator - Wasp 

Vok

Pakak - Cheetah (as Cheetor), Race Car (as Blurr)

Other Vok (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cheetor's Fans (Dream Only)

Random Cybertronians (Dream Only)

Blurr - Race Car (Disguise Used in Dream) Implied Dead

Other Racers (Flashback Only)

Afterburner - Speedbike (Mentioned) Implied Dead

Rev (Mentioned)

Crashed Protorform Pods (Mentioned)

Notes

• CatSCAN's design is based on a version of the Transtech version of Cheetor, rather than using Cheetor's Cybertronian node from this series, to better differentiate the characters this issue.
• The shorter of Cheetor's fans seems to use a modified version of Swerve's Titans Return design.
• I really hope we get a Pakak repaint of Cheetor from his appearance this issue... They could just call him Nemesis Cheetor for marketing if they need to!
• Pakak indirectly mentions that Blurr is dead by the present day in this issue. Similarly, an "Afterburner Memorial Speedway" implies that the Technobot is dead too.
• The "Tiwaz Maneuver" mentioned a few times this issue is just a red herring, from Cheetor's days as an athlete, but due to its repeated use, I'm going to guess it'll reappear later in the series.

IDW - Beast Wars #12

Title: Maximals Strike Back, Part 3

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals and Predacons continue their fights inside and out of the Darksyde.

Nyx manages to disable the Transwarp engine, and also knock out Tarantulas. Rattrap calls her for help when Megatron's room locks itself up, with him on the inside, having stolen the Golden Disk.

Outside, Cheetor manages to knock out Scorponok and handles Blackarachnia.

Skold, angry that the Maximals brought Razorbeast here, leading to his death, fights with Rhinox, who refuses to fight back, seeing that she is upset.

Dinobot gets attacked by Waspinator, wanting revenge for Terrorsaur's death, but Dinobot blasts him away.

Optimus and Megatron continue their battle, but when Nyx requests assistance in freeing Rattrap, he gives up on the rise, and finishes off Megatron, leaving him beaten down on the ground in shock.

Blackarachnia abandons the battle seeing her leader was defeated, and Skold gives up on her one sided fight with Rhinox...

Inside the ship, Optimus manages to free Rattrap, and they, aloh with Nyx, try leavib this ship, only to encounter a forcefield.

Megatron gloats that he'll keep them there until he can be repaired in a CR Chamber, so he can kill them all.

Unfortunately for him though, Optimus threatens to destroy the disk if he doesn't let them go, and without their Transwarp drive they can't even leave the planet. 

Megatron is forced to let them go, but swears to not rest now until Optimus is dead...

The Maximals head into the shuttle, where Rattrap reveals he made a copy of the contents of the disk, so they can study it too.

Later, Tarantulas has collected Terrorsaur's corpse, and starts experimenting on it...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Razorbeast - Wild Boar (Mentioned) Dead

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Dead, Corpse being Experimented on

Rhinox's Old Friends (Mentioned) Some Dead

Other

"The Ones Before" (Mentioned)

Muhammad Ali (Mentioned)

Notes

• The roll call page this issue has been updated with crosses over the Terrorsaur and Razorbeast, due to their deaths last issue.
• Megatron's beast mode head gets stripped of its artificial skin, revealing a head based on Animated Grimlock's
• Blackarachnia  comments that she may have to switch allegiances after Megatron lost to Optimus. Her switching sides was one of her major plot lines in the original Beast Wars cartoon.
• Rhinox references that he had friends amongst the Predacons back on Cybertron, including some he even loved. We previously have heard from him that not all Predacons are evil, and that the two factions have had working relationships for centuries. It's even possible that he was the one to have that Predacon transmission that was briefly mentioned early in the series.
• Megatron had a forcefield generator set up inside the Darksyde, inspired by the Maximals using theirs to keep them at bay earlier.
• Rattrap is shown to have made a copy of the Golden Disk for them to analyse. This must have happened when he lingered in Megatron's room after retrieving it.
• Tarantulas previously told Terrorsaur that he wanted him to stay in one piece, so he had more parts for his experiments. My guess would be that we'll see something like his Transmetal form come from these experiments.
• Terrorsaur's spark isn't seen with his body during the end scene, implying it either was taken (possibly by the Vok) or just simply extinguished without a body to house it.

IDW - Beast Wars #8

Title: Pod, Part 2

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals receive an abruptly cut off message from Cheetor, calling for help, so they hunt him down in the halls of the Axalon, where they find him hung up in an Energon web, having been left there by Blackarachnia. 

The crew split up to hunt down the new Predacon, who is in the control room, trying to download the Axalon's database. Realizing that the Maximals are going to find her soon though, she cancels the download, and starts uploading a copy of her Predacon shell program to the still orbiting stasis pods.

Rhinox soon finds her, so she disconnects and starts the process to force the pods to descend, forcing Rhinox to stay behind to try and salvage their stranded crew members. He reports what's happened to the rest of the crew, who are still split up across the ship.

Eventually, Blackarachnia breaks out of the ship and tries to head to the Darksyde, but is attacked by Cheetor, though she tricks him into believing that she has set multiple traps in the Axalon, causing him to run back inside to try and save his friends...

Later, Rhinox reports that more than half of the pods have been affected by this code, which implants the most aggressive Predacon traits into the recipient, changing their loyalties in the process, and there is no way to know who is infected until they emerge from their pods, which are still descending.

Optimus now decides that this is too far, and declares that they are going to go after the Predacons more aggressively now...

Blackarachnia soon sneaks into the Darksyde, where she finds Tarantulas, who attempts to make her bow to him as his servant, but she states that command didn't go through on the code. Tarantulas still considers this a victory however, and plans to connect to the rest of the pods as soon as he can,but Blackarachnia simply tells him that she has wonderful news then....

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rhinox - Rhino

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Orbiting Protoforms 51% affected by Predacon code, all pods Descending

Predacon

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Waspinator - Wasp

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Notes

• Rhinox reports that just over half of the orbiting pods have been affected by the Shell Program code. This is somewhat ironic since the Kingdom toyline, which most of the character models this issue are based on, has much less Predacon characters than Maximals.
• Blackarachnia's plan to send the code to all the inactive pods and half being converted into Predacons is actually pretty similar to the plot of the Gathering, the previous IDW Beast Wars comic series, where Razorbeast corrupted Magmatron's code, which kept half of the pods as Maximals instead of Predacons.
• Blackarachnia's code was supposed to be cause her to be subservient to Tarantulas, but that part of it failed to upload, most likely due to Rattrap interrupting the programming last issue.
• Waspinator has a teddy bear that he sleeps with, and much like Megatron's rubber ducky, it has metallic details.

IDW - Beast Wars #7

Title: Pod, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Dinobot has been welcomed into the Maximals, and during his recovery time, following his previous beating from the Predacons, he is sparring with Optimus, and giving the crew intel on the other Predacons.

At the Darksyde, Megatron finally decrypts another part of the golden disk, but is shocked to see that it is part of a warning from himself, but it is corrupted before he can rewatch it.

The other Predacons go on an Energon run as their stores are running low, and they split up for the job.

In orbit, one of the stasis pods receives a signal, and begins falling to the planet's surface.

Blackarachnia soon wakes up from the pod, and starts exploring the area, after beginning a download of a code update that she has been sent.

The Maximal explorer manages to get away from a crocodile creature, and detects a Cybertonian ship's signal nearby, so she heads toward it. She soon finds the Axalon and walks right through the protective shields, and intends to introduce herself to her fellow Maximals...just as the update completes and she becomes a Predacon!

The new Predacon hides in the corridor, having heard the Maximals talking in a room, soon, she is encountered by Cheetor, who just thinks she is a confused Maximal, until she shoots him with cyber venom, paralyzing him as he tries to call for help...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah Paralyzed by Blackarachnia

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Taranulas - Tarantula (Mentioned)

Other

Crocodile Creature Killed by Blackarachnia

Notes

• This issue marks the start of this series' second storyarc. It features a new art style, but this style is only planned to last for this arc, and will return afterwards.
• The character models in this arc are much more based on their Kingdom character models, where available, rather than the hyper stylised versions before.
• Dinobot is still scarred from his back stabbing from Tarantulas last issue.
• Dinobot's been added to the Maximal's safe passage list for the Axalon's shields, allowing him to pass through it, unlike last issue.
• Megatron briefly sees a message from himself from the future commenting that something will doom them all, but that the transwarp drive can do something to save them.
• Taranulas' tampering last issue is explained here. He was sending an update program to the Stasis Pods that uploads a shell program that turns the Maximal Protoform into a Predacon. We can assume that others were also affected, but most likely not all of them, since Tarantulas bwas interrupted by Rattrap, plus some covers have shown at least Airazor as a character in the future.
• The only real difference between Maximal and Predacon Blackarachnia are the colours of her eyes, green for a Maximal and red for a Predacon. However, her eyes are supposed to be black...
• Despite being mentioned a few times, him stabbing Dinobot, and his tampering being a main plot this issue, Tarantulas doesn't actually appear in the story.

TFCC - Hoist the Flag

Art by: Hayato Sakamoto and Josh Burcham

Story by: Marty Isenberg

Written by: Jesse Wittenrich

Editor in Chief: Brian Savage

Creative Director: Lanny Lathem

Letters by: Jesse Wittenrich

Cover Art by: Marcelo Matere and Thomas Deer

Managing Editor: Pete Sinclair

Plot

The Star Seeker's ship, the Tidal Wave, travels through a time-space portal, and their engines begin to overheat. Cannonball wonders where they are, because they're slightly off--course, but still continues on his mission to conquer Cybertron during a time of peace, which he believes is now, and they attack the Galadria space bridge outpost, in the Delta Prysmos sector, where they join forces with Flamewar to help them in their mission.

On Cyberion, the Knights of Cybertron (a new group not the mythical ones) are contacted about the attack, and set off to deal with the Star Seekers under the guidance of Alpha Trizer.

The Star Seekers use the space bridge to reach Outpost Galadria, which turns out to be Unicron's long dead head, but Cannonball plans to use the head to attack Cybertron, and steal all it's Energon, allowing them to conquer it easily. Devcon, who has stowed away contacts his fellow Knights to warn them about the attack, when he is discovered and attacked by Hunter and Scorponok, however Hunter wanders away before he can do anything else, having heard something.

Before Scorponok can hurt Devcon however, the Knights space bridge in as well, and attack the Star Seekers. During the battle, Alpha Trizer reveals himself to not be just an old man like he pretends to, but in fact is Cheetor, having merged with Alpha Trion, giving him power and knowledge.

During the battle, Unicron's head has been moved to Cybertron's orbit, and has begun draining the planet, but it in fact doesn't take in anything, as unknown to the Star Seekers, the planet has been turned Techno-organic in the past, and therefore no longer uses Energon. The Star Seekers and arrested and taken away.

Elsewhere, Hunter is on a planet where he hears a voice telling him to take the Matrix of Conquest, and it turns him into Shokaract, and he awaits Omega Point....

Characters

Autobots/Maximals

Alpha Trizer/Cheetor - Lion

Ginrai - Truck Cab

Apelinq - Flying Monkey

Flareup - Motorcycle

Devcon - Stealth Bomber

Volt - Car

Electro - Pick Up Truck

Other Knights

Rook - Sports Car

Battle Unicorn - Unicorn

Bonaparte Tulcas - Tank

Sky Garry - Spaceship

Autoceptor - Car

Ironhide - Humvee

Roulette - Muscle Car

Meanstreak - Dragster

Under-3 - Lion Head

Big Rescue Force - Gestalt

Motorvator Gestalt - Gestalt

Windmill - Helicopter

Red Guy Killed by Flamewar

Tread Bolt - Jet Killed by Flamewar

Strafe - Jet Killed by Flamewar

Autotrooper - Police Car Killed by Flamewar

Rodimus - Car (Imagination)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Imagination)

Primal Prime - Flying Monkey (Picture)

Blackarachnia - Spider (Picture)

Optimus Primal - Gorilla (Flashback)

Alpha Trion (Flashback)

Star Seekers

Cannonball - Van

Scorponok - Scorpion/Jet

Olin Zarak - Head

Brimstone - Flying Gun

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Hunter - Spaceship Turned into Shokaract

Ferak - Space Jet

Tornado - Gun

Chairman - Captain's Chair

Axer - Muscle Car

Eclipse - Rabbit

Rockhopper - Penguin

Navigator

Squirm

Dread Pirate Crew - Cars and Flying Cars

Others

Shokaract - Crab

Unicron's Head

Notes

• The cover for this version is of course an homage to the poster for the 1986 Transformers movie
• This whole story acts as a celebration of Botcon, and Transformers in general including references to older stories, and showcasing VERY obscure characters and toys.
• The Tidal Wave ship is based on the Tidal Wave toy from Armada
• The Ultimate Universe book the Navigator uses is a pop-up book, much like the real world "Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe" book
• Cannonball apparently likes Flamewar's flaming paint job on her breasts....that perv!
• Amongst the currency used for Flamewar's services, Cannonball pays up with Cyber Keys. Presumably they're just jewels in this universe and not "magic mushrooms"
• Ginrai's colours and occasional burning hands are probably both a reference to his "burning justice" mode, common to Japanese characters, and also to distinguish him from Optimus Prime (as the two would be identical otherwise)
• Primal Prime and Apelinq being separate by this point in time implies that a different set of events happened to those of Wreckers: Finale, as they should have fused into Sentinel Maximus and then sent to the Aurex universe by now.
• How did no-one notice that one of the Dread Pirate crew members was just Devcon in a mask?
• The date is given as 2984 (1000 years from when the Ark was woken up on Earth) this is the latest date given for the Beast Era so far (with most estimates putting the Beast Era at about 2300 or so)
• When Hunter touches the Matrix of Conquest he turns into the original Shokaract toy, rather than a new version (and also leads into the Omega Point storyline once again).

TFCC - Dawn of Futures Past

Staff

Writers: Forest Lee, Pete Sinclair

Pencils: Dan Khanna, Alex Milne, Marcelo Matere

Inks: Jake Eisen, Terry Pallot

Colours: Drew Eiden, Josh Perez, Thomas Deer

Letters: Junemoon Studio

Plot

Megatron and his team steal the Golden Disk and the Maximal Security Force are in pursuit, Unit-1 is disabled during the battle so Unit-2 (Tigatron) is forced to hunt them down himself.

Elsewhere, Divebomb (of the original Predacons) orders the Decepticons Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to assist Megatron is his usage of the Golden Disk (as it was G1 Megatron's goal originally for this to happen). The Predacons under Megatron's command steal a Transwarp ship, the Darksyde and they leave the planet. Tigatron commandeers the Chromia-10 Pilot's (Airazor) ship, along with her to chase them.

Maximal Command are worried that Tigatron won't be able to stop them in time, so they decide to call in reinforcements.from a nearby ship. On a space station the Axalon is being filled with it's cargo, including Protoform X's Stasis Pod, and their crew in their own Stasis Pod's too (for the long journey). The Maximal's under Optimus Primal's command on the Axalon start on their mission to drop off Protoform X and then return to their true scientific mission when Maximal Command contacts them and informs them about Megatron stealing the disk, they're ordered to chase the Predacons and recover the disk before the Preds can escape.

Before the Axalon can hunt down the Darksyde, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw attack the ship, causing quite a lot of damage, however they're saved when Airazor and Tigatron attack the Decepticon ship at the cost of their own ship. Tigatron and Airazor's spark's are transplanted into some blank protoforms in storage so that they can be rescued. The Maximals proceed to hunt down the Predacons.

On board the Darksyde, Tarantulas is communicating with the Tripredacus Council about the start of his secret mission, when Megatron asks him for a progress report on the disk, which he's been analyzing. On the ship's bridge the crew detect the Maximal ship approaching them, and Megatron orders the Transwarp Drive to be prepared, Dinobot is angry that they're running away again, instead of killing their foes. Megatron opens a channel up to contact their pursuers before they disappear. He greets the Maximals and taunts them before opening fire.

The Transwarp portal opens up and the two ships enter it, fighting, and that leads into the start of the Beast wars TV series.

Many years later Razorclaw and some other Predacons have returned to the technorganic Cybertron and declares that the Maximals will fall at the hands of him and the Predacons.

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Rocket Car

Cheetor - Racing Convertible

Rattrap - Motorcycle

Rhinox - Front End Loader

Tigatron/Unit-2 - Racing Convertible Spark Transplanted into Protoform

Airazor - Twin Nosed Jet Spark Transplanted into Protoform

Nitrostreak/Unit-1 - Racing Convertible Injured by Predacons

Maximal Council (Mentioned)

Maximal Command

Space Station Crew

Axalon Crew (In Stasis Pods)

Predacon

Megatron - Tank

Dinobot - Excavator

Scorponok - Scorpion Tank

Tarantulas - Truck

Waspinator - Jet

Terrorsaur - Jet

Razorclaw - Lion

Divebomb - Falcon

Rampage - Tiger

Headstrong - Rhino

Tantrum - Bull

Cicadacon (On Monitor)

Decepticon

Laserbeak - Falcon Killed by the Axalon

Buzzsaw - Falcon Killed by the Axalon

Ravage (On Screen)

Other

Protoform X (In Stasis Pod)

Notes

• Pretty much every character shown here uses another toy model as the basis (including those from the 2006 Botcon boxset) from a variety of toylines
• Most of the characters are unnamed in this story, this fits with the storyline where they re-name themselves upon taking on Beast Modes in Beast Wars. But for the sake of identification, I'm naming them by their Beast Wars names.
• Scorponok uses Energon Scorponok's toy as his basis, although he's much smaller than the toy would be compared to the other toy-based character models
• Considering the Maximal space station seen around an alien world...do you think they would still be active after Megatron's take-over of Cybertron, or even if they knew about it?
• Tarantulas places the Golden Disk into a device that make's it look like the ones released with some Club Toys, including Razorclaw, shaped like the Planet X Cyber Keys from the Cybertron series.
• Megatron's Cybertron Red Alert based body is just a removable suit it seems....I bet the toy can't do that...
• Airazor and Tigatron acting like new-borns on Earth is explained here as being because they lost a lot of their memories during the spark transplant used to rescue them from their destroyed ship.

TFCC - The Stunti-Con Job

Comic Staff

Story - Marty Isenberg, Derrick J. Wyatt & Matt Youngberg

Writer - Marty Isenberg

Pencils/Inks - Marcelo Matere

Colours - Thomas Deer & Jesse Wittenrich

Letters - Jesse Wittenrich

Storyline

Shortly after Optimus Prime and his team return to Cybertron with the Allspark and Megatron and his troops as prisoners and the Decepticons are imprisoned in their old fortress Trypticon in Kaon.

In Iacon Sideswipe is working as a beat cop, approaching the end of his career and retirement to the Energon Farms, but he needs to solve this one last case, which regards some stolen modifications. Whilst out on the street looking into a lead Sideswipe and his new partner Cheetor take down Rattletrap, who has Optimus Prime's axe on him, he says that he gave it to him, so Sideswipe calls his bluff. The three of them go to see Optimus who shows them his axe, and Rattletrap admits that the one he has is a copy and was found at the Motor Master's Stunt Convoy's rehearsal. Sideswipe has Rattletrap taken to the stockades for peddling stolen merchandise.

Cheetor and Sideswipe head to the Stunt Convoy's practice area (a former gladiator arena in Kaon, next to Trypticon) when Cheetor spots some Decepticons and goes to attack them, only to be stopped by Wildrider, when he learns that the Decepticons are actually just actors performing into a show for Sentinel "Magnus". The Stunt Convoy rehearse their show and pander up to Sentinel, who's only upset that the hologram of his head used in the show isn't bigger (as he wants Megatron to see it from his cell). The rehearsal ends when Toxitron reveals he lost his axe, which Sideswipe says he has, and then proceeds to look through their props as he thinks there's more stolen modifications there, but finds nothing and is escorted off the site by some Autotroopers on Sentinel's orders.

Later Sideswipe and Cheetor are looking into the Stunt Convoy members but find no records of them at all, when an Autotrooper walks in and tells them that Ironfist's lab's been broken into. The two cops head out to help Ironfistand they find his lab ransacked and him unconscious, but they wake him and he points out a silhouette, who looks like Optimus, but they quickly discover that it's Toxitron! Cheetor attacks him and manages to take him down, but angers Sideswipe in the process by risking killing them all by shooting a laser in a lab with explosive materials in it.
Toxitron is taken in for questioning, but isn't able to given any coherent answers so he's let go. Afterwards Sideswipe and Cheetor look into it some more and realise that due to some excavation and demolitions equipment also go missing that means that the Stunt Convoy are planning a break out from the prison next to their arena, and he realizes that the Stunt Convoy must be Decepticons as well because of this.
Strika has Wildrider and his Stunticon team report about the mission and they confirm that the prison will be broken into when the arena is destroyed during their show's finale.
The show starts and the arena is filled with Autobots when Cheetor and Sideswipe rush in and stop the show, but the Stunticons fight back, with Sentinel actually believing this to be part of the show. The Stunticons have the two cops cornered, but then Toxitron comes out from the wings and causes a part of the stadium to collapse and crush the Decepticons, Toxitron transforms and is revealed to be Optimus using Electronic paint, much to Sentinel's surprise. Optimus plays a recording of the report to Strika, which he was posing as Toxitron during and reveals that he had the real Toxitron captured and had Ironfist do his paint job for this plan as he was suspicious of the Convoy.
Motor Master gets himself free somehow and threatens to blow up the entire stadium and has Sideswipe at point blank range, Sideswipe grabs an axe from the ground and launches it, sending him and Motor Master flying into the wall and he grabs the detonator from him. Cheetor shouts at Sideswipe for risking blowing up everyone (as Cheetor did earlier himself) and Sideswipe says that NO ONE will stop his retirement.
The Stunticons are taken into Trypticon to be imprisoned right next to Megatron and the others, and Sideswipe finally retires to the Energon farm, he relaxes and watches a meteor shower in the sky...until he realises the shower is another Decepticon team lad by Strika!

Characters

Autobot

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Cheetor - Race Car

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Sentinel Prime/Magnus

Autotroopers - Treaded Vehicles 

Rattletrap - Speedbike

Bulkhead - SWAT Van

Ratchet - Ambulance

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Arcee - Sports Car

Omega Supreme - Orion Space Shuttle

Jazz - Sports Car

Jetfire - Jet

Jetstorm - Jet

Alpha Trion

Perceptor - Mobile Laboratory

Blurr - Race Car Cubed

Cliffjumper - Small Car

Botanica - Coupe

Brawn - Treaded Van

Ironhide - Treaded Vehicle

Rodimus - Sports Car

Red Alert - Ambulance

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Grandus - Mobile Platform

Erector

Warpath - Tank

Hubcap - Small Car

Bumper - Small Car

Sedan - Small Car

Tap-Out - Small Car

Chase - Small Car

Searchlight - Small Car

Freeway - Small Car

Wheelie - Small Car

Powerglide - Treaded Vehicle

Pipes - Treaded Truck

Huffer - Treaded Truck

Chromia - Sports Car

Minerva - Sports Car

Tracks - Sports Car

Mirage - Race Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Cosmos - Observatory Buggy

Flareup - Motorcycle

Longrack

Rosanna

Lightbright - Submersible Hovercraft

Lickety-Split - Motor Trike 

Beachcomber (File Image)

Scrounge - Wheel (File Image)

Jackpot (File Image)

Decepticon

The Motor Master - Truck Cab Imprisoned in Trypticon

Wildrider - Muscle Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Drag Strip - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Dead End - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Breakdown - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Toxitron - Truck Cab Imprisoned in Trypticon

Strika - Armoured Battle Tank

Blot - Tank

Sky-Byte - Bomber Plane

Mindwipe - Jet

Oil Slick - Motorcycle

Scalpel - Microscope

Megatron - Osprey Helicopter Imprisoned in Trypticon

Shockwave - Tank/Crane/Longarm Imprisoned in Trypticon

Lugnut - Bomber Plane Imprisoned in Trypticon

Mini-Con

High Wire

Leader-1

Grindor

Sureshock

Reachout

DUCK-E

Other

Sari Sumdac - Human Woman

Mudflap (File Image)

Notes

• Rattletrap asks Cheetor and him can work together, the latter says maybe in another lifetime...hmmmm...
• Motormaster and his team look like some of the Autobots because they were cloned from them
• Cheetor uses two of his weapons in one scene...you only get one with the toy :(
• Blurr is seen in cube form in the large crowd scene...so he wasn't incinerated!
• The Stunt Convoy's banner shows an image of the 2011 Botcon toy set's box art
• Oil Slick has a new weapon attached to him, which is clearer to see in the Addendum
• Wildrider uses Lockdown's character model, which implies (since all the others use Autobot bodies) that he was an Autobot originally before going freelance
• After he dons his cape, helmet and shoulder pads Sentinel seems to loose his vehicle mode kibble, implying that he has a new alternate mode...maybe we'll find out what that is in a later comic?
• Erector has a Cy-Gar...hope he's not crazy as well (like Kup)

Prologue: Moving Viloations

Comic Staff

Writers - Greg Sepelak & S. Trent Troop

Pencils/Inks - Greg Sepelak

Colours - S. Trent Troop

Letters - Jesse Wittenrich

Storyline

Cheetor chases Crumplezone and Ransack through a street on Cybertron for a moving violation, but ends up causing havok and ends up causing Crumplezone to create a large crater in the middle of the street.

Later Cheetor is berated by Chief Depth Charge who demotes him to a beat cop in Iacon for his actions (leading to the events of the main comic)

Characters

Autobot


Cheetor - Race Car
Depth Charge - Submersible Vehicle
Crumplezone - Rocket Car
Ransack - Speedbike
Pipes - Treaded Truck
Huffer - Treaded Truck
Road Rage - Sports Car
Excellion - Sports Car
Chromia - Sports Car
Glyph - Small Car
Moscardo - Small Car
Volks - Small Car
Chase - Small Car
Tap-Out - Small Car
Stampy - Speedbike
Flashpoint - Van
Strongarm - Treaded Van
Air Raid - Treaded Vehicle
Autotrooper - Treaded Vehicle
Dug Base - Mobile Platform
Stungun - Wheeled Vehicle
Hubcap - Small Car
Jackpot
Rosanna
Saur
Ramhorn
Autobot Workers (2)
Blurr - Race Car (Mentioned)

Other


The Motor Master - Truck Cab (Picture)
Wasp - Small Car (Wanted Poster)
Mudflap (Wanted Poster)

Notes

• Crumplezone is based on the Dark Crumplezone toy from the Cybertron series (most likely to distinguish him from Bulkhead)
• Cheetor gets splattered in black paint here, which explains why they are on his toy
• For a two page comic there sure are a lot of cameos here...
• Jackpot and Hubcap being spoken to by Stungun is a reference to Gone too Far
• There are no Decepticons (well except for a picture of Motor Master) in this comic as they were banished from Cybertron, Wasp is unalligned, and Mudflap's faction is unknown (and they're just on posters anyway)
• Jackpot is clearly based on Jazz, but appears in a Cybertronian mode, which wasn't shown before for Jazz, so this issue effectively reveals Jazz's Cybertronian form as well, but not his alternate mode of course <<
• Also, due to Ransack sharing a character mode with Rattletrap, this story also reveals his alternate mode (as well as Stampy's)
• Also there are many new character sin this comic that share character models with older characters, but rather than going on about all of them, I'll leave you guys to look them up yourselves (as I'm lazy)

Allspark Almanac Addendum

Cheetor Profile by Ironfist

Ironfist Profile by Swindle

Sideswipe Profile by Ransack and Crumplezone

Depth Charge Profile by Cheetor

Ransack Profile by Depth Charge

Crumplezone Profile by Sideswipe

The Motor Master Profile by Wildrider

Wildrider Profile by Drag Strip

Drag Strip Profile by Breakdown

Breakdown Profile by Dead End

Dead End Profile by Toxitron

Toxitron Profile by The Motor master

Moving Violations summary by Depth Charge

The Stunti-Con Job summary by Strika

Trypticon Prison information by Sideswipe (with info on Mini-Cons)

Botcon 2011 summary (with images of the TFA toys from that convention)