IDW - Lost Light #12

Title: The Plotter's Club Part 3: Journey's End

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence & Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Joana LaFuente, John-Paul Bove & Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: David Mariotte

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Getaway counts to 30 and declares Riptide dead, having had him in the oil reservoir for long enough for the Scraplets to have eaten him now. Atomizer expresses his distaste for what just happened again, but Getaway ignores him, concentrating more on how the security team seem unwilling to fire n Autobots, so he plans to have Sunder work on them, or even bring in someone without a connection to the crew...

The Lost light exits the Warren for a recharge, and Perceptor is shocked that the ship appears to have time travelled a short time whilst in the Warren. The crew is about to re-enter the Warren to reach Cyberutopia when Getaway informs Blaster that they have a rendezvous to make...

In the Oil Reservoir, now alone, Riptide manages to escape the oil, having retained his transformation skill despite Getaway using the Nudge Gun to remove that skill.

Getaway, Froid and Atomizer meet in Swerve's bar, where they experience one of the time windows showing Rodimus and the other guys that were betrayed by Getaway hanging out before their exiling. Froid asks Getaway if he thinks they survived the attack from the DJD, which Getaway seems confident that they did, then begins to wax on about how he'll be named a Prime after finding Cyberutopia. Froid partially diagnoses Getaway as having Primus Apeothesis, and that he is trying to become like Optimus. He then goes on to say that hopes Rung survived the attack, since he was one of the "good guys" in life.

Later, Getaway takes Atomizer to the Medibay where he orders him to kill either Hot Spot, First Aid or Rook, stating that doing so will stop the potential threat of Defensor combining. Atomizer takes some time to decide, but ultimately kills Rook, likely due to him not knowing him. He immediately regrets the choice, as he figures he could have just shot him into space instead of killing him. Getaway now states that Atomizer has blood on his hands now, just like him, meaning he's no better than him now...unaware that Riptide is watching from a panel in the ceiling....

Meanwhile, the Scavengers are raiding an old Decepticon base on the planet Frayus, when they leave and discover the Black Block Consortia fighting with both the Galactic Council and the Decepticon Justice Division, now under the command of Nickel, and made mostly of Deathsaurus' troops. The Scavengers try to teleport away to their ship, but the signal is unable to lock on, as they ship might be damaged. However they are saved when someone rescues them through a spacebridge portal, which they run through, soon followed accidentally by Nickel being blown into the portal by an explosion.

Back on the Lost Light, Riptide frees the comatose Autobots, they mourn Rook's death, and First Aid determines that Riptide must be immune to the Nudge Gun due to his lower intelligence. They head off towards the shuttle bay to escape the ship, after taking Ambulon's body from the morgue. Mirage scouts ahead and tells the others that the shuttle bay is filled with security, so they decide to combine, using Ambulon as a replacement for Rook.

Inside the shuttle bay, Getaway and the others are welcoming a new shuttle, containing their new security chief, when Defensor smashes through the wall and attacks the security team. Thunderclash strikes Getaway, but before he can do much more, he is shot in the side of his head by Star Saber, the new security chief, and is knocked out.

Getaway orders his new recruit to take Defensor apart, since he is an "unbeliever" Mirage tries to reason with Star Saber, but the fanatic simply slices him to pieces, much to Atomizer's horror. Star Saber soon attacks Defensor and slices him into his component parts, and the security team kill Streetwise, Blades, Groove and Hot Spot as they fall. He goes towards First Aid and Riptide, who are dragging Thunderclash to safety, when Atomizer jumps him and shoots him in the neck, giving the others the time to steal Star Saber's shuttle and escape.

Later, Getaway calls Froid to have Sunder alter the memories of the security team to make them think that Thunderclash killed Atomizer, in order to cover for him just killing him himself, but the doctor is demanding more and more spinal cords as payment. Before they can agree on the price however, Blaster contacts Getaway with some good news...they have arrived at Cyberutopia...a beautiful rainbow hued version of Cybertron!

Characters

Autobot

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Car Killed by Getaway

Sunder - Car

Thunderclash - Truck Injured by Star Saber

Riptide - Boat

Mirage - Race Car Killed by Star Saber

First Aid - Ambulance

Rook - Armoured Personnel Carrier Killed by Atomizer

Hot Spot - Fire Truck Killed by Security Team

Groove - Police Motorcycle Killed by Security Team

Blades - Rescue Helicopter Killed by Security Team

Streetwise - Police Car Killed by Security Team

Ambulon - Leg Dead

Defensor - Protectobot Combiner Most of Team Dead, so Defunct

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Mainframe

Perceptor - Tank

Blaster - Acoustic Tank

Jackpot - Car

Smokescreen - Car

Inferno - Fire Truck

Pointblank - Car

Aquabat - Winged Monster/Boat

Grotusque - Winged Sabertooth Tiger

Doublecross - Two Headed Dragon

Dogfight - Jet

Powerflash - Jet

Boss - Car

Other Lost Light Crew Members

Rodimus - Car (Flashback Window Only)

Megatron - Tank (Flashback Window Only)

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper (Flashback Window Only)

Skids - Van (Flashback Window Only)

Nautica - Submarine (Flashback Window Only)

Brainstorm - Jet (Flashback Window Only)

Swerve - Van (Flashback Window Only)

Tailgate - Car (Flashback Window Only)

Velocity - Race Car (Flashback Window Only)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Rung - Photon Crystal Generator (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Fulcrum - Bomb

Misfire - Jet

Spinister - Helicopter

Crankcase - Van

Krok

Nickel - Rocket Car

Deathsaurus - Dragon

Eaglebreast - Chest Piece

Tigerbreast - Chest Piece

Liokaiser - Breastforce Combiner

Previous Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned) Dead

Tarn - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Genericons (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Star Saber - Jet

Froid - Jet

Red Scraplets

Cyclonus - Space Jet (Flashback Window Only)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Other

Galactic Council Troops

Black Block Consortia Troops

The Scavengers' Saviour (Voice Only)

Notes

• Getaway claims at the start of the issue that the security team is unwilling to fire on other Autobots, yet at the end they slaughter the Protectobots. This either means that Getaway is wrong, or he has already made arrangements with Sunder to alter their minds further.
• It's off-handedly mentioned that travelling through the Warren causes the ship to travel backwards in time briefly...I'm gunna guess that that will be an important plot point later...
• Riptide managed to survive his swim with the Scraplets. From the looks of things he launched himself out of the oil which got him to safety, but how did he avoid getting eaten by them? He's obviously been bitten from his small wounds, but still! Eaten within 30 seconds remember?
• Getaway is shown looking into the past at Swerve's bar, as we also saw in MTMTE #50. We can probably assume that this happens at the same time as Getaway's last panel view into the past in that issue, since the window is only open for a short period of time.
• So turns out that Getaway DOES know about the Protectobots being able to combine into Defensor. I guess the Lost Light got a dossier about the events of Combiner Wars then?
• Getaway's logic that killing a Protectobot that turns into a leg or the torso of Defensor to disable the combiner is technically sound, except the Protectobots he names as legs haven't been shown as legs in IDW so far. Also since Mirage is also able to turn into a limb for Optimus Maximus, he could have stood in. The only real option for this logically would be to kill Hot Spot, being the only one who turns into a torso in the group.
• Also speaking about this scene, where is Mirage in the medibay? We see an empty slab, so was he just invisible whilst in a coma? Was he just offscreen and they left an empty bed for some reason?
• Shockingly we actually see the conflict on the planet Frayus that Getaway ignored the SOS to last issue. Though maybe it was a good thing that he had them ignore the call since the DJD turned up to join in on the fight too.
• It's revealed that Deathsaurus was the one who sent Fulcrum to prison in the first place. Seems he's changed his thoughts on aiding "criminals" over the past few years.
• Hey look! Nickel has an alternate mode! It's a cute rocket powered car of some sort!! Awww
• It's unclear who recued the Scavengers, but my guess would be either Scorponok, Fortress Maximus, Prowl, or someone on Necroworld.
• Oh wow...Liokaiser....where do I start here? We saw that MOST of the Breastforce were in Deathsaurus' troops when we last saw them at the end of MTMTE, but this appearance is confusing for a couple of reasons. First, how are they combining? Successful multi-bot combinations were unstable before Devastator, and later the Enigma of Combination, so unless Deathsaurus somehow "borrowed" the Enigma to combine them, then this should be an unstable combiner. Secondly, Guyhawk is seen as part of the combination...Guyhawk was a member of Gigatron's forces in Drift: Empire of Stone...a series where he died on-screen....maybe this is his cousin Galhawk?
• First Aid claims to have not gotten to know Rook....HE WAS PART OF YOUR COMBINER TEAM!!!! It's been established since combiners became commonplace in IDW that once you combine, you get a fragment of the other members of your team's mind inside yours forever, as clearly shown with the Constructicons and even Optimus starting to act more Prowl-like in his mannerisms.
• So Riptide was immune to the Nudge Gun because he is dumb? I personally prefer my theory that the gun just malfunctioned on him due to Getaway forgetting to recharge it now...
• Oh...Ambulon is back in his robot mode? Wasn't he reconfigured into a gun on Luna-1? I guess he got put back together since then? Also he can still be used for combination. Last time we saw a dead Transformer used as part of a combination was when Scrapper's corpse was used for Devastator's leg...which wasn't able to move properly...yet Defensor is fine here....yup...
• Ohh! Star Saber! YAY!!!
• He kills Mirage and easily defeats Defensor? Booo....
• Getaway alludes to how Star Saber agrees to join the crew as a means to get revenge on Cyclonus, who managed to defeat him last time they met.
• As predicted, Atomizer turns against Getaway at the climax of this issue, allowing First Aid, Thunderclash and Riptide to escape....then he gets murdered by Getaway...I wasn't expecting that part!
• Okay conspiracy theory time! I think most of the end of this issue is a false looped memory of Getaway's. I think Froid is fed up with him, when he learns that Rung is probably amongst the dead on Necroworld now, and he had Sunder trap him either just before or just after Rook's death, and gave him all he ever wanted to keep him placid (finding Cyberutopia, getting a powerful ally like Star Saber, defeating Defensor and the others etc).
• Hey, notice how annoyed Getaway looks when Skids calls Nautica his best friend in the flashback window? I wonder if Getaway will justify his old friend's death because of this moment?

IDW - GI Joe vs the Transformers #12

Written by: Tom Scioli and John Barber

Art, Colours and Lettering by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Arcee and some other Autobots who feel guilty about the Earth being blown up decide to merge together and become Defensor, and vows to defend the remaining humans.

Elsewhere Doc is in the middle of performing an autopsy on Wild Bill, when he comes back to life and starts devouring the doctor and everyone else as a zombie!!! (that last part was a joke, he just comes back to life...my idea would be better)

Cobra Commander is travelling across Cybertron and reclaims Cobra for himself, and kills all his replacement commanders. Later he returns to the Cobra headquarters where he reunites with Serpentress/Baroness and they start making out after showing off their hideous scars and they rejoin forces.

In the afterlife Optimus meets with Grimlock, and the two run to escape from Kremzeek,. who is going to eat them. The two of them soon arrive at the entrance to the Matrix Pantheon where Bludgeon is there, and asks for their keys to enter. Optimus displays his, but Grimlock doesn't have one as he never wielded the Matrix. Optimus decides to give Grimlock his key, so Grimlock can go into the Matrix and join the Council of the Fallen (those talking heads that appear when you enter the Matrix in the cartoon) and Optimus stays behind in the afterlife.

Back on Cybertron, Fort Max, now controlled by Snake Eyes (I dunno why) meets with Scorponok, controlled by Scarlett (I sorta know why) The two humans meet each other between the two Transformer's tongues (Seriously! Look at my notes section image!!) and Scarlett forces Snake Eyes to reveal his face scar to her, and the two reunite.

Elsewhere, Megatron has a spasm from the Matrix, which releases the Council of the Fallen, and he is angry that Optimus isn't amongst them, but instead Grimlock appears, and starts to taunt Megatron, ordering him to give back his stolen body parts.

Elsewhere again, Scorponok and Fort Max have joined up with the main Autobot and Joe forces and force Metroplex into his robot mode, so he can join the battle as well.

The Autobots and Joes march on to battle to defeat Megatron and his forces, and to save the tiny Sun.

Wheeljack uses Blaster to shatter Trypticon's shields, and the Joes fire the "Green Bombs" at the Decepticons, covering them in vines etc to disable them. The Autobots attack the Decepticons in their confusion, and Metroplex smashes into Trypticon's chest, and the Joes and some Autobots invade the giant Decepticon.

Outside, Cobra Commander arrives with Doctor Venom, and bargains with Megatron for him to give him Mars after the battle, if he removes the vines. Megatron agrees, since he doesn't believe Mars will exist after the Sun vanishes, and Venom destroys the vines.

Below them, Defensor is being beaten by Typticon (who, up to about 2 seconds earlier was tied up by vines) but Defnsor is saved by the Joes, who use a vehicle to aim Defensor's gun and allows the Autobot to shoot Trypticon.

Baroness meets with Crystal Ball, the Cobra soothsayer, who predicts that Baroness and Cobra Commander will have a child soon that is the TRUE Cobra Commander, Serpentor.

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus Prime - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle/Horsie

Wheeljack - Car

Blaster - Boom Box

Ramhorn - Cassette

Steeljaw - Cassette

Stripes - Cassette

Perceptor - Tank

Swoop - Pteranodon

Slag - Triceratops

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Bumblebee - Car

Brawn - Van

Topspin - Jet

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Wreck-Gar - Motorcycle

Ironhide - Van

Jazz - Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Mirage - Race Car

Gears - Pick Up Truck

Warpath - Tank

Hound - Jeep

Trailbreaker - Van

Road Rage - Car

Arcee - Sports Car

Red Alert - Emergency Vehicle

Blades - Rescue Helicopter

Inferno - Fire Truck

Prowl - Police Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Peacemaker - Rifle

Defensor - Rescue Bot Gestalt

Omega Supreme - Rocket Base

Fortress Maximus - Battle Platform

Metroplex - Slug Thing

Optimus Prime - Truck Dead, inside the Afterlife

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Dead, inside the Matrix Pantheon

Alpha Trion Part of Matrix Pantheon

Regulus Prime Part of Matrix Pantheon

Sentinel Prime Part of Matrix Pantheon

Amazon Prime Part of Matrix Pantheon

Zeta Prime Part of Matrix Pantheon

Prima Part of Matrix Pantheon

Primon Part of Matrix Pantheon

Decepticon

Megatron - Gun

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Sixshot - Sixchanger

Scourge - Space Shuttle

Thrust - Fighter Jet

Bombshell - Boll Weevil

Kickback - Locust

Shrapnel - Stag Beetle

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Ravage - Cassette

Abominus - Terrorcon Gestalt

Devastator  Constructicon Gestalt

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt

Trypticon - Battle Platform

Scorponok - Scorpion Tank Under Scarlett's Control

Bludgeon In Afterlife

Generic Seekers - Jets

Generic Insecticons - Insects

GI Joe

General Flagg

Hawk

Duke

Falcon

Snake Eyes

Scarlett/Zkarlett

Wild Bill Brought back to Life (Somehow)

Doc

Lady Jaye

Jinx

Stalker

Tunnel Rat

Gun-Ho

Quick Kick

Rock 'n Roll

Roadblock

Bazooka

Cover Girl

Big Lob

Mutt

Junkyard

Beachhead

Snow Job

Dusty

Steeler

Generic Joes

Cobra

Cobra Commander

Baroness/Serpentress

Destro

Doctor Venom

Major Bludd

Crystal Ball

Raptor

Xamot

Tomax

Golobulus

Nemesis Enforcer

Interim Cobra Commander Killed by Cobra Commander Supporters

Serpentor (Vision Only)

Cobra Troopers

Crimson Guardsmen

Other

Blind Master Inside the Master Sword

Soft Master Inside the Master Sword

Hard Master Inside the Master Sword

Kremzeek

Koh-Buru-Lah

Notes

• Defensor is made up of the new team of "Rescue Bots" instead of the Protectobots.
• Despite this, Defensor looks an awful lot like he would with the traditional Protectobots used, except for the lack of Groove, and there being a bright pink crotch made from Arcee
• No Arcee! Don't combine with Prowl! He'll make you annex a populated planet!!!
• Blades is based on his Aligned Rescue Bots counterpart, but with more of a G1 colour scheme.
• Peacemaker is based on his G1 counterpart, but resized to interact with a Gestalt.
• Wild Bill was killed in a plane crash, and has been dead for a week maybe? So yeah....despite this, he's totally fine and not brain damaged at all when he comes back to life.....of course!
• The Interim Cobra Commander character is based on the "Battle Armour Cobra Commander" toy from 1987...I guess Cobra Commander hated that redesign?
• The afterlife being a digital landscape for Transformers has been seen a few times before in the past, including when Optimus was trapped in Ethan Zachary's computer game, and when IDW Optimus "died" briefly and saw Nova Prime in the interspace thingie in Escalation.
• Oh shock and horror...the Serpentress is actually the Baroness in disguise to hide her "hideous" scars from issue 0.....I really hope this wasn't supposed to be a surprise reveal, as it was realized by everyone when she was revealed.
• It's revealed that Baroness rewrote some of the Cobranomicon to help the alliance with the Decepticons.
• So Cobra Commander is a lizard man? Are we sure that Billy/Stormshadow II is REALLY his biological son?
• So the Baroness' horrible scars from a plane exploding are some slight blemishes and a scar from her glasses? Big whoop-ti-do!
• Why is Bludgeon guarding the Matrix Pantheon?
• So...Optimus has Matrix "Stigmata"? You're really pushing the Jesus metaphor a bit far guys!!!
• The Master Sword (from the Headmasters TV series) is infused with the spirits of the Ninja Masters from the GI Joe framchise...where this came from is not explained due to the series being shortened in some way.
• Fort Max and Scorponok touch tongues.....EWWWWWWWW
• So we learn here that Scarlett took command of Scorponok from Zarak,. who I guess she killed. I have a few questions though...what happened to all the Cobra and Decepticon personnel inside Scorponok we saw last time, and what happened to her hair? Last time we saw Scarlett she had half her hair shaven off, but now she has a full head of hair again (and in a scorpion tail theme)
• Considering what a homicidal bitch Scarlett's been so far in this series, I was actually shocked that she didn't attack Snake-Eyes immediately after he showed her his horrible face scar.
• Also, Sbake-Eyes, please put some sort of bandage on that wound, it looks like it's going to get infected with just your mask over it!
• Grimlock appears to be able to possess his decapitated dinosaur mode head...now this could be just in Megatron's head, but from Destro's reaction it's probably not.
• After this scene, Megatron no longer has his Grimlock parts on his body, so I guess he got rid of them to stop further ghosties.
• I know I shouldn't be expecting much from this series, but HOW does the slug monster Metroplex turn into his usual G1 design, with all his normal kibble instact?
• Rodimus rides Sky Lynx like a horsie.....okay...whatever....
• Devastator is shown active again, despite the Constructicons complaining earlier that with Long Hual dead, they could no longer combine any more. I guess Long Haul got better or something, this is a badly written series after all.
• So those tendrils have the Sun totally surrounded here? last issue showed Prime no where near the size of the Sun, so how is this a thing? If he's absorbed so much solar energy already that it's shrunk the Sun down to the size of a small planet, then I think the Joes and Autobots have already lost this battle!
• They probably aren't them, but I'll say the second orange "Recordobot" and red Tracks are actually Stripes and Road Rage, just so this comic can have something good in it (though it's probably just bad colouring rather than that)
• Oh look a bit of continuity! Doctor Venom was the one who developed the Creeper plants, so it makes sense that he's have the ability to destroy/defeat them
• Also...oh no...Venom has betrayed the Joes...I never expected that at all...oh shockers!
• Where is Baroness getting her fortune told? Did Crystal Ball just bring all his occultic paraphernalia with him to Cybertron with him? Also, I thought the Cobra guys were based in Trypticon, so why aren't they collapsing from him being shot just before this scene?!
• Serpentor is revealed to be the future child of Baroness and Cobra Commander, who will grow up to be their new commander....except....
• Next issue is the last one! Hooray!!
• Seriosuly, I doubt the mutant Serpentor baby will come to anything, Baroness will probably be killed next issue or something.

IDW - Transformers: Windblade #3

Title: Combiner Wars Part 5

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Story by: Mairghread Scott & John Barber

Pencils by: Marcelo Ferreira & Corin Howell

Inks by: Corin Howell, Brian Shearer & John Wycough

Colours by: Yamaishi [Coordination: Phases] & Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

The combined form of Optimus and the others walk through the Spacebridge  and tries to take control of the other combiners, but suddenly he starts to malfunction, since the component parts aren't able to unite their minds. Devastator attacks the newcomer, seeing him his replacement as Prowl's team. The two Autobot combiners hold off the Decepticons, and defends Optimus and the others.

Back at the Spacebridge control room on Cybertron, Windblade and Wheeljack hold their ground against the Decepticons, but are saved in the end when Stasrcream appears ans shoots Swindle right through the chest. A quick fight starts off, and Wheeljack manages to stabilize the Spacebridge enough to set the coordinates to Caminus, allowing Chromia and the others to come through and help in the battle. The Decepticons surrender and has them arrested. Wheeljack reports that the Spacebridge is still damaged, and starts working on repairing it.

Rattrap secretly talks to the dying Swindle, who reveals that he knew he was dead the moment Starscream arrested him before. He reveals that he has proof of his deal with Starscream to attack Caminus. Starscream appears behind them, where Rattrap claims that Swindle, who has now died, had done so before he even hit the floor...

On the colony world, the new combiner is still catatonic whilst the other combiners fight to defend him. Inside it's mind, Optimus and the others speak to Prowl, and make him realise that his way is wrong, and his views of the world using numbers and facts is flawed. Prowl finally understands this, allowing his mind to merge with the others, and not trying to control it. the combiner is complete again.

The new combiner joins the battle and manages to turn the tide. On Cybertron, the Spacebridge is repaired enough to work again, and Defensor manages to come through with Menasor subdued, however Optimus fights with Devasatator through the Spacebridge, appearing in various places through the portals, causing damage in each new location, eventually returning to Cybertron, where the Autobot combiners gang up on Devastator and force him to separate. 

Starscream has the Constructicons and Scoop placed under arrest...at least until they can figure out how to control Devastator. The new combiner, who now identifies as Optimus Maximus, separates and surrenders Prowl over to Starscream with no resistance. Superion mourns the "death" of Optimus Maximus with Prowl's arrest.

Before long, things are starting to get back to normal, the Council of Worlds is founded, and Rattrap is named as Cybertron's representative, Prowl is arrested, but Optimus comes to visit him, to show him that there is still hope.

However, all is not okay in the universe, on Velocitron and Eukaris the colonists investigate the damage caused by the Combiner Wars and report their findings to their leaders.

In distant space, a spaceship is flying around, and Obsidian reports that the signals from the Spacebridge that opened earlier match Cybertron, which pleases his leader, Elita One, on her throne made of dead Cybertronians......

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Ironhide - Van

Mirage - Race Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Wheeljack - Race Car

Chromia - Speedbike

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Defensor - Protectobot Gestalt

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Waspinator - Wasp

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Cargo Plane/Oil Tanker

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt Presumably Arrested

Scrapper - Front End Loader (MISTAKE!) Arrested

Generic Decepticons Arrested

Unaligned Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Swindle - Van Killed by Starscream

Devastator - Constructicon and Scoop Gestalt Arrested

Scoop - Front End Loader Arrested

Long Haul - Dump Truck Arrested

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck Arrested

Hook - Crane Arrested

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer Arrested

Scavenger - Excavator Arrested

Badgeless Officers

Caminus

Mistress of Flame

Yellow Leader

Red Leader

Other Colonists

Elita One

Obsidian

Moonracer - Car

Knock Out - Car

Airazor

Tigatron

Override (Mentioned)

Other

Spike Witwicky (In Prowl's Eyes)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Statues)

Notes

• Unlike the rest of Combiner Wars, this issue has no subtitle visible (most likely this will be added for the trade version)
• The army of Decepticons that Swindle gathered last issue have been replaced by generics here.
• Also, Swindle appears to have been coloured in Constructicon colours rather than his normal ones.
• The dead Scrapper is seen amongst the Constructicons and Scoop after their de-combination...this is almost certainly a mistake and not him being revived.
• Elita One's throne made of dead Cybertronian parts seems to be a reference to the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones, it could also be a reference to the throne made of Autobot parts from the G1 cartoon episode Triple Takeover.
• It's not shown here, but it's likely that Menasor's components were arrested too
• Each of the three Lost Colonies shown here introduces one new female Transformer.

IDW - Transformers #41

Title: Combiner Wars Part 4: You, Me, and the Universe

Written by: John Barber

Story by: Mairghread Scott & John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Optimus visits Prowl in his cell, and the two discuss how Starscream plans to use the Combiners to control the Universe, but they both know that Defensor and Superion are loyal to Optimus and Cyebrtron, NOT Starscream.

On Caminus, Starscream oversees the Combiners and Decepticons leading the rebuilding project of the damaged city.

Starscream soon returns to Cybertron with his small entourage and asks Wheeljack why they haven't made contact with more colony worlds yet, with Wheeljack commenting that he needs Windblade to speak to Metroplex to finalize it.

Starscream heads to his secret prison with Scoop and Rattrap, where he speaks with the Constructicons, and tells Scoop that "orange isn't his colour".

Blurr's bar is almost empty, but Mirage and Ironhide discuss their shared visions of a burning Cybertron, Earth and Caminus, and Sunstreaker suggests that they may be sharing memories or thoughts through a Mindspace, like Sunstreaker used to have with Hunter before his death. The trio decide to discuss this with Optimus.

Wheeljack meets with Windblade and the two decide whether they should help Starscream by opening the spacebridge's for him, as they're unsure whether he'll really save the colonies, or destroy them with his actions.

Optimus continues his discussion with Prowl, and admits that he's always attributed Prowl's past actions as being due to his long string of betrayals in his life, but he's beginning to change that opinion, and Prowl implies that Optimus has betrayed him too by acting as the god-Prime to the Camiens.

Starscream has had Scoop and the Constructicons combine into a new version of Devastator, who with Scoop's addition now serves "the Chosen One". Starscream begins to gloat, when he notices that Rattrap has disappeared.

Rattrap attacks one of the prison guards, and releases Swindle from his cell, telling him to make a distraction for him. Before long, Menasor has been released from jail, and the Decepticons from the slums are starting to raid the Spacebridge control room. Prowl tells Prime that Menasor is heading for the Spacebridge, as he'd do the same thing, in order to leave the planet.

As predicted, Menasor smashes his way into the Spacebridge control room, but is attacked by Devastator, and the two tumble through the portal, and onto a still rebuilding Caminus. The Autobot Combiners attack the two Decepticons, expecting them to be there for no good, but they are easily beaten by the Decepticons. The Decepticons raid the control room, and damage the control panels, causing the bridge to malfunction.

Ironhide and the others run into Prime and Prowl heading to the control room, but are also met up by Rattrap, who has stolen the unguarded Enigma of Combination for Prowl, who has Rattrap activate it, and forces himself, Optimus, Ironhide, Mirage and Sunstreaker to combine into one.

Windblade and Wheeljack try fighting off the Decepticons, whilst the Combiners are tumbling through the bridge to other worlds, continuing their battle, until the new Combiner appears, declaring it is time to take control....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Mirage - Race Car

Sunstreaker - Car

Ironhide - Van

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Wheeljack - Race Car

Chromia - Speedbike

Defensor - Protectobot Gestalt

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Trailbreaker - Van (Mentioned)
Zeta Prime - Truck (Mentioned)
Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)
Arcee - Car (Mentioned)
Chromedome - Car (Mentioned)
Wreckerss (Mentioned)

Aerialbots (Mentioned)

Protectobots (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt

Waspinator - Wasp

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Mindwipe - Bat

Blast-Off - Space Shuttle

Weirdwolf - Wolf

Sinnertwin - Two Headed Dragon

Stunticons (Mentioned)

Camien

Red Leader

Yellow Leader

Blue-Green Civilian

Unaligned Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Scoop - Front End Loader

Hook - Crane

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Scavenger - Excavator

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Devastator - Constructicon and Scoop Gestalt

Swindle - Van

Blurr - Race Car

Badgeless Officer Killed by Rattrap

Sandstorm - Helicopter/Dune Buggy In Jail

Blackjack - Car (Mentioned) Part of Menasor

Other Cybertronian

Bob

Primus (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Glitch (Mentioned)

Outliers (Mentioned)

Functionists (Mentioned)

Senate (Mentioned)

Other

Hunter O'Nion (Mentioned) Dead

Spike Witwicky (Mentioned)

Notes

• Prowl is being kept in a prison complex separate from the other prisoners of Starscream, most likely to keep him separate from the Constructicons.
• It's implied here that Starscream plans to use Sandstorm in the future, most likely as a distraction during an escape of some sort.
• Sandstorm not knowing what Sandstorm did makes a bit of sense, since he was only arrested a couple of days earlier in continuity (despite the comic being out for some time now)
• Sunsteaker's theories about the Mindspace that Ironhide and Mirage seem to share could imply that Ironhide's vision of a future Pax Cybertronia was simply him seeing someone else's dream, such as Jhiaxus as he was known to have the same vision. This could mean that he is an Outlier, along with Mirage.
• Scoop's inclusion in Devastator's gestalt form is used to get around the whole "Scrapper is dead" storyline, and yet still have the character match the new toyline figure.
• Optimus mentions that the Aerialbots and Protectobots haven't ungrouped since combining...despite the Aerialbots having done so after losing their fight with Devastator earlier.
• From the looks of it, Rook has taken the form of Defensor's right arm this issue, confirming his place in the combiner...no signs of Groove yet though.
• The malfunctioning Spacebridge appears to be sending the combiners through other receiver bridges, but the planets appear to have organic life, not Cybertronian so far...
• It's unclear from the story whether the gestalt form at the end is Ultra Prime or Optimus Maximus, but since he is using the limbs known to belong to Optimus Maximus, and a comment from the artist, I think we can assume it to be him.

IDW - Transformers Windblade #2

Title: Combiner Wars Part 3: Mistakes and Mayhem

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Story by: Mairghread Scott & John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

On Caminus, the natives, along with some Cybertronians, which includes a larger number of Decepticons are helping to fix the damage caused by Menasor's rampage. During the rebuilding Chromia discuss how Caminus would be better without Cybertron's involvement, but Ironhide brings up all the death that Chromia herself caused on Cybertron in the recent past, proving to her that even Camiens can make mistakes.

On Cybertron, the leaders of Caminus and Cybertron work on plans to build the planned Colony Council, but they are having problems deciding how to make it work, since Starscream knows that the Camiens will just follow whatever a Prime says.

Back on Caminus, Devastator comes through the Spacebridge, and orders all of the Cyberronians to return to Cybertron, as he doesn't want to have the world's mingling. When the Cybertronians refuse though, he opens fire on them.

The O Fortuna arrives on Cybertron, and Mirage rushes off the ship to warn Optimus about his vision of Cybertron burning. When he arrives at the meeting however, Chromia contacts Windblade and reports on Devastator's attack. The leaders head to the Spacebridge, along with the Protectobots.

Rattrap contacts Prowl back on Caminus and asks him what he's doing, and he says that he's had enough of this and wants the Cybertronians to stay on their own planet and leave the rest of the galaxy alone now. Superion joins the battle against Devastator, and despite Superion's greater combinational skills, Devastator manages to badly hurt him.

Optimus and the others reach the Spacebridge to find Devastator/Prowl dragging an unconscious Superion through the portal, and then starts to destroy the portal himself. The Cybertronians and Chromia on Caminus head through the portal and start attacking Devastator to stop him, since Optimus can't reach his old friend any more.

Starscream uses the Enigma of Combination to repair the Aerialbots again, and then drafts the Protectobots into joining together into Defensor. The two Autobot combiners attack Devastator as a team and manage to fairly quickly destroy him, forcing him back into his component parts.

Starscream intends to have Prowl and the Constructicons executed, but Windblade insists that they be tried under Camien law, as their crimes were against Caminus. Prowl and the others are taken away to prison, with Prowl screaming at Optimus as he's dragged away.

Optimus tries to rationalize Prowl's actions as the war having unhinged him, but Chromia corrects him that it's fear that's changed him, and that when you're afraid you do stupid things as you think you, alone are right, acting as her acknowledgement of her own mistakes in the past to Windblade, renewing their friendship.

Nearby, the Camien leaders ask Starscream if he can station one of his combiners on Caminus for it's defence, which Starscream is MORE than happy about....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Ironhide - Van

Prowl - Police Vehicle Arrested

Mirage - Race Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Hot Spot - Fire Truck

First Aid - Ambulance

Groove - Motorcycle

Streetwise - Police Car

Blades - Helicopter

Rook - Armoured Van

Defensor - Protectobot Gestalt

Silverbolt - Jet

Air Raid - Jet

Skydive - Jet

Fireflight - Jet

Powerglide - Jet

Alpha Bravo - Helicopter

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Nautica - Submarine (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Waspinator - Wasp

Fat Tankor - Tank

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

United Cybertronian

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

The Badgeless/Secret Police

Scoop - Front End Loader (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Devastator - Constructicon and Prowl Gestalt Destroyed by Defensor

Constructicons Arrested

Cybertronian Populace

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Camien

Lightbright

Red Leader

Yellow Leader

Notes

• It's mentioned that more Decepticons than Autobots are helping with the rebuilding of Caminus...I seriously wonder why that is? Maybe they just have more time on their hands, or maybe they want to repopulate on Caminus instead of staying on Cybertron in the aftermath. That could actually be the case considering Sparkstalker's comment of "This world is our's".
• Sunstreaker is confirmed as having remained on Cybertron following Dark Cybertron.
• Rook randomly appears with the Protectobots here, despite never being mentioned etc. This is clearly to tie in with his toy, but is still a bit glaring.
• Fat Tankor thinks everyone calls him "Fast Tankor"
• Superion and Defensor seem to have better control of their gestalt forms than Devastator, in that they can reconfigure themselves whilst still combined.
• The Enigma of Combination can heal apparently. It's unclear if it only works on combiners, but the Matrix was shown to be able to heal in the past as well, so maybe all of the artefacts of the Thirteen can do this too?
• Prowl's eyes are back to blue when he separates from the Constructicons...maybe the red eyes were just to indicate the start of their combination?

DW - War Within The Dark Ages

Plot

Megatron has completed his Space Bridge and is about to test it out, but Optimus attacks him, and both fall into it. Because the Space Bridge was only configured for one, it explodes, and both leaders are lost, soon afterwards space opens up, and The Fallen is flung from his interdimensional prison and lands on Cybertron. Later, the Autobots and Decepticons are now mostly segregated and work as smaller teams. The Lightning Strike Coalition, led by Grimlock, attack the Predacons, led by Starscream to steal their Energon shipment.

Meanwhile this is happening the Autobots left in their base in Iacon are despondent about their current situation. Elsewhere in Kalis the Chaos Trinity are messing around with the dark arts when The Fallen appears and conscripts them into helping him, leading them into a chamber below the surface, towards a strange seal.

At the Well of All Sparks The Fallen gives Bludgeon a taster of his power, which he promises to give them all if they help him in his plot, which he and his pals fully agree to.

At the Tagan Heights, the Wreckers, led by Springer are looking for Ratbat's Ultracons when they discover that Ratbat has recruited Devastator, despite there being a ruling against using Gestalts in these wars, due to the damage they cause. In Iacon the Protectobots learn about Devastator's involvement in the battles and decide they need to act as well, so they head out to help, not knowing that someone is watching them.

At the Tagan Heights Devastator is tearing through the Wreckers, and Springer gets trapped in some cables in a building, where Ratbat and his team arrive and gloat, and get ready to kill him.

The Chaos Trinity continue their plots to kidnap some Transformers for The Fallen's plan, which includes Grimlock. The Protectobots arrive at the Heights and combine into Defensor to join the battle, the tremors caused from the two gestalts battling frees Springer, but he and the Decepticons just stare at the giants fighting.

At Iacon again, Jetfire returns to base and wonders where everyone is., despite the planet seeming to be in chaos.

Springer screams at Ratbat about unleashing a Gestalt battle in Tagan Heights, especially due to the energon being stored there. At Iacon Jetfire takes to the consoles of Autobase to try and work out all that's happening, and finds it odd how everything that could possibly go wrong is all happening at once.

Prowl leads a large team of Autobots into Nova Cronum where Decepticon activity has been detected, they enter a city, when suddenly thecity Transforms, revealing that it's Trypticon in disguise and starts attacking the Autobots.

The Wreckers try to stop the Gestalt fight, whilst Jetfire decides to share his data with someone else who might have more, so they can figure out what's happening, Shockwave, the two agree to meet.

Springer manages to get through to Defensor, who manages to de-combine, and manage to rig it so Devastator is plugged into a power station and is overloaded, defeating him and forcing him to de-combine too.

Prowl calls for help with Trypticon, but his message is hacked with a recording of Jetfire and Shockwave agreeing to meet up, especially for Grimlock to see...

The Autobots are being crushed by Trypticon, and the LSC decide to help them, except for Grimlock, who wants to go deal with Jetfire and Shockwave. Jetfire and Shockwave have met up and are about to exchange information when the Chaos Trinity attack Shockwave, they eventually defeat him and hypnotize Jetfire into coming with them, as they are leaving Grimlock arrives, planning to execute Jetfire for treachery, but The Fallen needs him still.

Trypticon ends his attack when Shockwave contacts him and leaves. Grimlock is about to kill Jetfire, but The Fallen arrives and manually stops him.

The Fallen easily defeats Grimlock and has the Chaos Trinity collect the others he needs whilst he takes his captives, Jetfire and Grimlock to the Well of All Sparks. Following the battle with Trypticon the Autobots are being repaired and start to agree with Jetfire's idea about the planet falling into chaos all of a sudden, and then receive a message from Swoop saying that Grimlock went to deal with Jetfire and hasn't returned. THEN the base receives reports from down below at the prison wing about The Fallen attacking and trying to get to their captive, Blitzwing. Meanwhile the Protectobots are attacked by the Chaos Trinity and Hot Spot is kidnapped, whilst the Autobot guards are defeated and The Fallen kidnaps Blitzwing too.

Everyone starts hunting down The Fallen and his cronies to rescue the missing Transformers, meanwhile The Fallen has the four kidnapped Transformers strapped into the Well of All Sparks, and has them being used to activate the seal, in order to summon his master, Unicron.

Shockwave and his Decepticons attack the Chaos Trinity, who are guarding the entrance to the Well, the Autobots learn of this attack and figure out that Shockwave must be there to deal with The Fallen, so they decide to help out too. Grimlock manages to break out of his restraints inside the Well, whilst above the Trinity are slowly being killed, Grimlock frees Jetfire and decides to trust him now and work together to free the other captives, so they can stop the seal from opening any further and Jetfire contacts Bumblebee and has him erect a forcefield around the Well, stopping the energies from leaving.

Inside the force field The Fallen goes to kill Jetfire for thwarting his plans, when Primus himself appears and traps him inside the seal (yet Jetfire is still a robot atheist). The united Transformers break into the chamber and find it a mess. In the aftermath the entrance is sealed up by the Transformers with codes that can only be released when all are one. Jetfire meanwhile wonders what The Fallen was trying to summon, and whether it's still around somewhere...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Lost in Space

Jetfire - Jet

Grimlock - Armoured Vehicle

Prowl - Speeder

Swoop - Jet

Sludge - Tank

Slag - Armoured Vehicle

Snarl - Armoured Vehicle

Springer - Helicopter

Topspin - Jet

Twin Twist - Drill Tank

Roadbuster - Gun Mounted Vehicle

Whirl - Helicopter

Sandstorm - Buggy

Broadside - Jet

Hot Spot - Fire Suppression Unit

Blades - Helicopter

Groove - Motorcycle

First Aid - Van

Streetwise - Speeder

Defensor - Protectobot Gestalt

Jazz - Speeder

Sideswipe - Speeder

Sunstreaker - Speeder

Kup - Speeder

Hound - Speeder Jeep

Tracks - Speeder

Mirage

Huffer - Truck

Perceptor

Skids - Speeder Van Crushed by Trypticon

Cliffjumper - Car

Gears - Speeder

Wheeljack - Speeder Van

Ironhide - Van

Bumblebee - Winged Speeder

Bluestreak - Speeder

Trailbreaker - Van

Ratchet - Van

Other Autobots

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank Lost in Space

Shockwave - Ray Gun

Bludgeon - Tank Killed by Skywarp

Mindwipe - Jet Killed by Shockwave

Bugly - Jet Killed in Battle

Ratbat - Jet

Trypticon - Battle Platform

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Starscream - Tetra Jet

Thundercracker - Tetra Jet

Skywarp - Tetra Jet

Motormaster - Truck

Blast Off - Jet

Octane - Jet

Astrotrain - Jet

Thrust - Jet

Soundwave

Ravage

Brawl - Tank

Krok

Horri-Bull

Chop Shop

Venom

Ransack

Scrapper - Front End Loader

Scavenger - Excavator

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Hook - Crane

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Stormbringer (Mentioned) Killed by LSC

Pulse (Mentioned) Killed by LSC

Hardcase Killed by LSC

Other Decepticons

Other

The Fallen - Tank Trapped in the Seal of Primus

Primus

Unicron - Ringed Planet Inert

Notes

• This story's main plot of Optimus and Megatron going missing is sort of ruined when you remember that this is set BEFORE the main G1 storyline from Dreamwave, which has both of them fully alive, so we sort of know they'll be back one day
• This story introduces the idea that Ratbat used to have a more humanoid appearance, which is later used more extensively in IDW's back story
• Gestalt technology is shown to be quite dangerous and leaves the Gestalt a bit insane...it seems to have gotten better by the "present"
• Grimlock almost calls Swoop, Divebomb, a reference to the character's original name in the Marvel comics (and apparently here too)
• A little weird...and hard to see, but Primus' ethereal hand looks a bit more organic than robotic
• The Fallen being drawn into the seal on Cybertron would have been brought up again later in the planned continuation of the G1 Dreamwave comic, where he would have been revealed to have been possessing Sunstorm to an extent, and later Jetfire as well
• The seal shown here on Cybertron was to be connected to the one seen on Earth as well
• Shockwave later actually does summon Unicron during his reign....but I think that wasn't his plan...I hope....