IDW - Transformers #39

Title: Darkness, Once Gazed Upon, Part Three

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Andrew Lee Griffith

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Nathan Widick

Editor: David Mariotte

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

Smokescreen tries to get Swindle to arm the unarmed members of their team, Magnus, Elita and Bumblebee, but the bar owner insists he doesn't have any weapons in his bar 

Suddenly, the wall blows in, with Sixshot leading a crew of Decepticons inside, and orders them to kill everyone except Magnus, as Megatron wants him alive...

In the basement, Headlock is trying to make it to the hidden tunnels before the fight can start, when he finds "Ruckus" exploring, interested in what is inside one of the Immersion Chambers.

During the battle, Smokescreen finds Swindle's secret weapons cache, and arms himself with as much as he can carry, rejoining the battle in full force.

Elsewhere in Iacon, Cyclonus finds "Provoke" leaving the medical center, and confronts her, pointing out her recent contradictions and odd behaviour, forcing her to reveal her true identity as Exarchon, intending to take his body as a replacement. After a short battle, Cyclonus tears out her spark, and destroys it, realising that Ruckus is likely to also be an Exarchon host, he knows what needs to be done...

Meanwhile, "Flatline" has made his way to Shockwave's secret base, where he is repairing Skywarp from his recent injuries caused by Sky Lynx, and reveals his identity as Exarchon to his former follower...intending to finish their old mission.

After a hard battle, the Autobots manage to escape from Swindle's bar, but Swindle as his staff are left behind. In the underground tunnels, the Autobots, plus Bumblebee and Elita, regroup, but they know they're unlikely to get back to Crystal City before the Decepticons attack the city to try and take down the Autobot army.

In the aftermath of the battle, the bar is destroyed, and Sixshot warns the owner to stay in line from now on, or this will be the least of his troubles.

Swindle starts to complain about his lot on life now, when he notices Ruckus' corpse in the basement. Suddenly Deathsaurus, now infested by Exarchon, bursts through the remains of the roof, and heads into the skies, intending to crush Cybertron under his feet again, and to keep it crushed this time....

Characters

Autobot

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Chromia - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Arcee - Car

Smokescreen - Car

Decepticon

Sixshot - Car/Jet/Tank/Gun/Winged Beast 

Shockwave - Flying Artillery

Ravage - Cassette

Catgut

Treadshot

Gutcruncher

Cindersaur - Lizard Monster

Flamefeather - Bird Monster

Jolt - Car

Scatterspike - Van

Green/Orange Security Guard Killed by "Provoke"

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Three-fold Spark

Flatline/Exarchon - Van

Provoke/Exarchon - Big Wheeled Vehicle Killed by Cyclonus

Ruckus/Exarchon - Buggy Killed Self to Infest Deathsaurus

Deathsaurus/Exarchon - Dragon

Other Cybertronian

Swindle - Van

Trickdiamond - Car

Roughstuff - Truck Joins Decepticons

Headlock - Forklift

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Car

Cyclonus - Jet

Skywarp - Jet Under Repairs from Shockwave

Gridlock (Ghost)

Highfire (Ghost)

Grudge (Ghost)

Paragon (Ghost)

Provoke (Ghost)

Notes

• Roughstuff is shown switching sides to the Decepticons here, confirming that the Devepticon badge he had a couple issues ago was just a mistake.
• Flatline is confirmed to have been taken over by Exarchon this issue, after being attacked by the ancient evil in issue 36 
• Following her physical death, Provoke returns to being one of Cyclonus' ghosts again
• Deathsaurus was shown to be in the immersion chambers previously in the series, having decided to live out his days killing Cliffjumper in there...wonder if Exarchon will have an urge to kill Cliffjumper now too?

IDW - Transformers #36

Title: Lord of Misrule: Enigmatic

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: David Mariotte

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

At the Medical Center in Iacon, Provoke is using a database to catch up on what has been happening since she went missing, and asks Cyclonus to leave her alone, so she can do this herself. Cyclonus agrees, but the "ghosts" in his head comment on how something is off about the situation they've found themselves in...

The battle between the Autobots and Decepticons at the edge of the Sea of Rust is in full swing, with Termagax's Spectrosynth Drones helping the Autobots take down the Decepticons.

Inside House, Termagax controls one of the drones to recover the Enigma from its hiding place inside the facility, with the intention of taking it out of reach of needed.

Unfortunately for Termagax, Skywarp has entered the battlefield, intending to claim the Enigma himself, so he can use it to prove his worth and to use it for leverage. Skywarp proceeds to teleport through House, until he finds the Enigma, and claims it for himself.

Eventually Skywarp warps to the top of House, declaring that he controls the Enigma, and they should all listen to him. Jumpstream arrives just in time, despite her injuries from his time travelling earlier, and Pyra asks her to reclaim the Enigma from Skywarp.

The two teleporters fight over the Enigma, but Skywarp proves to be the superior 'porter, but before he can escape, Sky Lynx crushes him in his maw, and scorches him at point-blank range, forcing him to drop the Enigma.

The ancient artifact lands next to Skytread, who intends to use it to retake his leadership role from Sixshot, but the larger Decepticon simply shoots him, sending him and the Enigma plummeting into the Rust Worms, devouring Skytread in the process.

Cybertron starts quaking again, with the bedrock around the Sea falling apart, freeing the worms, and forcing the two Rmies to escape, abandoning the Enigma in the process.

Termagax and Optimus comment that the Enigma has probably survived the Rust Worms, but it will be near impossible to recover it for now, but are now more worried about the Rust Worms being loose on the planet, potentially spelling out their doom...

Back at the Iacon Medical Center, Flatline is baffled that Ruckus, another practically-dead patient has awoken. Provoke suggests that it's not outside the realms of possibility for him to have been revived this way on his own, but Flatline refuses this, saying it is absolutely impossible.

"Provoke", now annoyed, drops the pretense and attacks Flatline, stating that Exarchon will have to be "Three once more"....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Ironhide - Van

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Jumpstream - Car

Sunstreaker - Car

Sureshot - Buggy

Arcee - Car

Groove - Motorcycle

Flareup - Motorcycle

Vibes

Pipes - Truck

Smokescreen - Car

Springer - Helicopter/Car

Pointblank - Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Powertrain - Truck

Backstreet - Race Car

Big Daddy - Car

Wheel Blaze - Fire Truck

Brawn - Van

Javelin - Car

Subsea - Submarine

Other Autobot Fighters

Decepticon

Sixshot - Jet/Car/Tank/Gun/Winged Wolf

Skytread - Tank and Jet Eaten by Rust Worms

Nova Storm - Jet

Red Wing - Jet

Wingstun - Jet

Ion Storm - Jet

Hotlink - Jet

Battleslash - Helicopter

Weirdwolf - Wolf

Gutcruncher

Offroad - Van

Runamuck - Car

Runabout - Car

Crasher - Race Car

Flame Feather - Bird Monster

Other Decepticon Fighters

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Termagax - Armoured Van

Skywarp - Jet

Cyclonus - Jet

Provoke/Exarchon - Wheeled Vehicle

Ruckus/Exarchon - Buggy

Flatline - Van Attacked by Exarchon

Geomotus - Radar Buggy

Landmine - Plough Buggy

Kaskade Comatose

Codexa Immersant

"House"

Spectrosynth Drones

Paragon (Ghost)

Highfire (Ghost)

Grudge (Ghost)

Gridlock (Ghost)

Primus (Mentioned)

Nexus Prime (Mentioned)

Citadel - Titan Ship (Mentioned) Dead

Old Cybertronian Senate (Mentioned)

Other

Rust Worms

Flyts

Termagax's Specimens (In Jars)

Notes

• It's shown here that Termagax manually controls her Spectrosynth Drones, but can leave them on a sort of auto-rin feature to allow her funer control on a single drone.
• An area that Skywarp warps into looks like it's a power source of some sort, but actually also resembles a spark chamber to an extent...is this more proof to my theory that House is a hidden Titan?
• It's mentioned that Nova Storm is potentially able to retrieve the Enigma from the Rust Sea, implying that she might have survived having her internal parts crushed by Windcharger last issue.
• My theory of Exarchon living on inside Provike's body is shown to be absolutely the case here! Yay for validation!

IDW - Tales of The Fallen

Bumblebee

Plot

Bumblebee returns to Tranquility to act as Sam's guardian again and the two have fun together, however Sam's parents (who know about the Transformers by now) tell him that Bumblebee can't stay with them when Sam goes off to college. Sam's annoyed and goes to see Mikaela, be says to Bumblebee that he wants him to stay behind tonight, however on the way there Sam is abducted.

Later Mikaela calls Sam's parents to ask where he is, so Ron tells Bumblebee that Sam's missing, and he races off to find him. Bumblebee receieves a message from someone asking for the Allspark in exchange for Sam.

Elsewhere, Barricade is dangling Sam over a car compactor ordering him to give him the Allspark fragment when Bumblebee arrives and frees his human friend. The two robots fight, and Bumblebee eventually wins by dousing Barricade in gasoline and then shooting him, cauing an explosion. Bumblebee and Sam escape, but unseen to them so does Barricade.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Concept Camaro

Decepticon

Barricade - Police Car

Human

Sam Witwicky

Ron Witwicky

Judy Witwicky

Miles

Mikaela Banes

Trent

Other Humans

Lindsey (Mentioned)

Dog

Mojo

Notes

• This story shows what happened between Bumblebee being sent back to look after Sam and the start of ROTF

Sideswipe

Plot

Sideswipe arrives on Earth in late 2008 and immediately starts hunting down Demolishor, who caused major problems for him in the past and is tearing apart a city looking for him. NEST notices him and tells Optimus to bring him in or he'll be killed. Ironhide is sent out and soon finds him fighting with Demolishor again, he helps Sideswipe against Demolishor. The mexican army is sent in to deal with the warring robots, and chase off Denolishor, however Ironhide defends Sideswipe from one missile, injuring himself before the other Autobots and NEST arrive and stop the problem, Sideswipe probably joins the team after this.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Ironhide - Pick Up Truck

Sideswipe - Concept Corvette

Ratchet - Emergency Humvee

Bumblebee - Concept Camaro

Sideswipe's Brigade (Flashback) Killed by Demolishor

Decepticon

Demolishor - Excavator

Human

Lennox

Epps

Admiral Morshower

Other Humans

Notes

• Sideswipe is shown to have a history with Demolishor, pity he never ended up with the kill-shot against him huh?
• This story shows Sideswipe appearing before Arcee and the Others here, which MIGHT contradict the scene in Alliance.
• Sideswipe has pop up guns in vehicle mode, which is added to his alternate mode in later toys.

Jetfire

Plot

Jetfire, in the past completes another mission for The Fallen and creates energon from a star using a harvester on a lifeless world (or so he thinks). Later the duo meet with the Dynasty of Primes in their dimension who are upset by the planet that was just destroyed in fact had life upon it and then all vow to not use the harvesters on worlds with life. The Fallen isn't happy, and Jetfire is confused as he didn't know the planet was lifeless. The Fallen begins his own faction, the Decepticons with Jetfire as a member.

Later Jetfire and The Fallen go to Earth, where they find lifeforms, but The Fallen doesn't care and starts killing the humans he finds, Jetfire is shocked and tries to stop his master before the harvester can be used there.

The rest of the Dynasty of Primes arrive on the planet to confront The Fallen for his actions, The Fallen transports Jetfire and his other Decepticons away to fight alone. Jetfire and the Decepticons fight it out, but Jetfire manages to take them all down one by one. Afterwards he starts travelling the world, searching for thousands of years.

Eventually Jetfire comes across a stealth jet that's just crashed and assumes it's form.

Characters

Decepticon

The Fallen

Jetfire - Blackbird Stealth Jet (Formerly Space Ship)

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck Killed by Jetfire

Rampage - Bulldozer Killed by Jetfire

Scrapper - Front End Loader Killed by Jetfire

Long Haul - Dump Truck Killed by Jetfire

Scavenger - Excavator Killed by Jetfire

Hightower - Crane Killed by Jetfire

Other

Dynasty of Primes

Captain E. Laska

Lt. Sheep

Ancient Humans

Notes

• This story shows Jetfire being inducted into The Fallen's original Decepticons and him leaving it too
• The Constructicons in this story aren't the same guys who appear in ROTF as well, just guys who happen to look like them
• Jetfire's travels around the world after defeating The Fallen's troops is shown in Sector Seven

The Fallen

Plot

The Fallen has been using the harvester to power up the Allspark, but uses stars that are responsible for planets with life, against the Dynasty's laws, so he starts a revolution against his brothers and actively seeks out to kill all lesser lifeforms for their star's energy. Over time he gathers up a large load arsenal of weapons.

The Fallen sets a trap for his brothers by setting up the Harvester on another planet, Earth, and asks for his brothers to come with the Matrix so he can activate it.

Jetfire turns against his master for his actions and is sent away by The Fallen along with his other Decepticons whilst The Fallen battles and slaughters his brothers. Eventually Prima arrives and defeats his brother, using his powers to launch The Fallen into his sarcophagus, trapping him in another dimension, once there, The Fallen vows vengeance.

Characters

Decepticon

The Fallen Banished away by Prima

Jetfire

Scrapper - Front End Loader Dead

Long Haul - Dump Truck Dead

Rampage - Bulldozer Dead

Overload - Articulated Dump Truck Dead

Other

Prima

Dynasty of Primes Killed by The Fallen

Aliens Killed by The Fallen and his Troops

Notes

• This story shows The Fallen betraying his brothers and killing most of them off
• One of the Primes use Optimus Prime's protoform toy from the first toyline, this is Prima
• The Fallen defeated his brothers by using a secret cache of weapons he's been collecting for ages, whilst they just tried to reason with him by talking.
• This story is set during the same time-frame as the previous story

Ravage

Plot

Ravage's dead body was recovered at some point, and is revived by a mysterious group who send him missions to complete. The first mission is to recover the dead Allspark Mutations that attacked Sam in his house and then evade capture, he manages this after a long chase, and ends up hiding under a building that was just air-striked on presidential orders. Soundwave witnesses this from orbit and wonders what's happening

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Concept Camaro

Decepticon

Soundwave - Satellite

Ravage - Aquatic Vehicle

Reedman - Ball Bearings

Rampage - Bulldozer

Human

Sam Witwicky

President Barrack Obama

NEST

Military

Ravage's New Masters

Other

Appliance Bots Dead

Notes

• This story shows that Ravage's death as seen in the movie itself, but not in the comic DID happen in the comic too, but just off-screen
• This story sets up a main plot point of Ravage being revived by a mysterious organization which is continued in Nefarious
• This is the only "Tales" story to be set AFTER the movie, with all the others being background for the characters included

Arcee

Plot

Arcee's ship is attacked by Thundercracker and all aboard are killed, later Arcee wakes up in Flatline's lab in a new body, next to her sister's in new bodies as well and he plans to use her and her sisters as an experiment in creating a new type of warrior, after his failed experiment using Skids and Mudflap.

The three sisters are reactivated and now share a mind to some extent, unfortunately for Flatline, the sisters are still Autobots, break free and start attacking the Decepticons in the base after freeing the twins.

After a quick battle, the 5 Auotbots escape after avoiding the lab's self destruction, and the Decepticon's own escape. The 5 Autobots later leave on the Twin's ship and head towards Earth, to answer Optimus' call for reinforcements.

Characters

Autobot

Arcee

Chromia

Elita One

Skids

Mudflap

Breakaway Killed by Thundercracker

Clocker Killed by Thundercracker

Optimus Prime (Flashback)

Decepticon

Thundercracker - Cybertronian Jet

Flatline

Dreadwing Drones - Cybertronian Jets

Payload Drones

Starscream (Flashback)

Notes

• This story shows what happened after Reign of Starscream, and shows why Arcee has a new tripartate body, as well as why Elita is alive again. Chromia's past life is explored later.
• This story shows that Skids and Mudflap are a bit dim-witted because Flatline experimented on them
• Wow Flatline is dumb, he upgraded Arcee and her sisters with greater abilities and DIDN'T make sure that she was mind-wiped or something first?!?