IDW - Transformers (BNE) #16

Title: The Change In Your Nature, Part Four

Written by: Brain Ruckley

Art by: Bethany McGuire-Smith & Anna Malkova

Colours by: Josh Burcham & Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

A meeting takes place in secret between the Senators, minus those affiliated with the Ascenticons, considering the recent situation, especially regarding the imminent arrest of Soundwave. Most of the Senate seem upset with the decision, and Froid takes this moment to try and speak with Nnautica about Cybertronian psychology when dealing with aliens.

Following the meeting, Heretech goes to meet with Megatron, and informs him of the real reason of the meeting being to capture Soundwave, and that he cannot condone these actions, and just wanted to warn Megatron of this ambush. He also mentions that he plans to lead the Reversionists in an exodus from Cybertron, to escape from the crumbling society of their homeworld.

As Heretech leaves, Starscream comes out of the shadows, saying he isn't there to warn Megatron like Heretech was, as he's backing everyone until he knows who will win this conflict, but did want to mention to Megatron that Bumblebee may be working with Orion Pax, due to his continued links with him, despite being removed from Security in the past. Megatron doesn't want to believe that his friend would plant a spy in his ranks, but is starting to question it...

Nautica manages to escape from the annoyance that is Froid, when she learns that a Voin shuttle is docking at the space port, and is devastated to learn that it is in fact a  Voin Asserter, a special variant designed to deliver justice after a crime is committed against the Voin, and this will be trouble....

Megatron calls Elita-1 to meet with him, and asks her if she has any concerns about Bumblebee's loyalties. She denies any concerns, but does express that she feels that Soundwave is not truly on their side, and reveals her belief that he killed the Risers to cover up some secrets. Megatron dismisses her, and contacts Soundwave, still furious with him after his recent failures. He wants him to contact Shockwave to proceed with their plans ahead of schedule, no matter how messy it'll get...

A Rise team head toward a near-abandoned Cityspeaking facility, where they plan to take it over. They manage to take down the three security officers stationed there, but not before the last one, Headrush, manages to call in for reinforcements 

Knowing they don't have much time, they have their seemingly reluctant member, a Cityspeaker named Skystalker, link up to a machine that allows him to talk with the Titan in Cybertron's orbit, Vigilem, and tells him it's time to wake up, and proceed with their earlier discussed plans...

Characters

Autobot

Orion Pax - Truck

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Ironhide - Van

Brawn - Van

Pipes - Truck

Headrush Killed by Hyperdrive

Red/Green Guy Killed by Tracer

White/Blue Guy Killed by the Risers

Ascenticon

Megatron - Mining Vehicle

Elita-1 - Car

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Strika - Battle Tank (Mentioned)

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft (Mentioned)

The Rise

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Tracer - Helicopter

Blackjack - Car

Hyperdrive - Car

Skystalker - Car

Astrotrain - Trackless Train/Space Shuttle

Immersant Titan Team (Mentioned) 2 Dead, 2 Comatose

Shockwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Quake - Tank (Mentioned)

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Bitstream - Jet (Mentioned)

Sparkstalker (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Starscream - Jet

Nautica - Submarine

Road Rage - Flying Car

Froid - Jet

Heretech

Vigilem - Titan Ship

Space Port Workers

Immersant Titan (Mentioned) Destroyed

Strika's Heavies (Mentioned)

The Reversionists (Mentioned)

Proxima (Mentioned)

Crosscut - Van (Mentioned)

Other Species

Voin Asserter

Murdered Voin (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• McGuire-Smith provides the art for the early scenes, whilst the entire Riser raid is provided by Malkova
• It's mentioned this issue that Nautica seems to have no interest in relationships with Cybertronians, furthering her seeming preference to alien species seen in previous issues.
• As mentioned in a previous issue, the murdered Voin was someone important, and the Asserter has been called to exact justice for it.
• Strika is mentioned as being a Senator in the present day.
• Strika's Heavies were previously seen during Megatron's flashback to the war with the Threefold Spark, which included Flak, Warpath and Blitzwing.
• So....the death count on Cybertron is really racking up from this issue it seems!
• Skystalker, due to his demeanour and needing to be "reminded" of his loyalties to the Rise seems to imply that he's not a willing member, but someone who was abducted and forced to join them due to his Cityspeaker skills.
• Also, Cityspeakers are brought back to the franchise, following their prominence in the previous IDW continuity. It's unclear yet if Windblade is also a Cityspeaker, as she traditionally is, but considering her position in Security, it's unlikely (unless she had a career change or something)
• Cityspeaking in this continuity appears to be more akin to the Titan Masters of that continuity, where they are linked up to the Titan in some way, rather than reading their brain patterns to communicate for them like Cityspeakers were shown to do.
• And oh poopy! The Titan in orbit around Cybertron is revealed to be Vigilem, the personal Titan of Liege Maximo from the previous continuity, who was mentally and mode-locked by the ancient Cybertronians, as well as having his name changed to "Carcer" for him aiding Maximo in his crimes. Since we get his name as Vigilem, and see he is active already, we can assume that this part of his history never happened in this Universe
• So, jumping ahead a bit, the solicits for the next few issues mention a catastrophe and  mass exodus of the population, so I'm guessing that Vigilem is going to cause a few problems next issue....

IDW - Transformers (2019) #10

Title: The Cracks Beneath Your Feet, Part Four

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernendez, Anna Malkova and Beth McGuire-Smith

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte

Plot

Megatron meets with his guards, Elita-1 and Bumblebee, and they escort him towards the Senate meeting, on the way they come across a silent protest starting, in honour of the recent murder victims, which people are blaming on the extremist group, the Rise.

Meanwhile, Froid visits Cyclonus at a medical facility, where he brings up his dead friends, and asks if he ever talks with Paragon, who was killed by Pyra Magna. Upon hearing his name, Cyclonus snaps, and heads off alone again, to get away from society...

The Senators meeting begins, and the topic of discussion is, of course the recent murders and rising tensions and riots across the planet. Megatron dismisses the claims and tries to accuse the others of blaming his Ascenticons for the riots and recent troubles.

Orion points out to Megatron that there is no real discussion to be had, the Autobots hold the majority vote, and they will uphold Nominus' Edict, and they will not be removed from power until the next voting season, so Megatron will have to disband his private army, the Ascenticon Guard, and also join the rest of the Senate in publicly denouncing the Rise as an extremist group and even rename them.

Before Pax can give the new name to the Senate, Megatron starts to leave, dismissing the idea as Pax trying to deceive the population.

Outside, Megatron is met with his guards, but his is noticed by a member of the crowd, and a riot starts, with the population starting to equate the Ascenticons to the Rise and start attacking the Senator. Bee and Elita fend off the rioters, whilst Megatron gets to safety, but the two guards begin to question what they are doing, when they start injuring the rioters...

Megatron heads off into the wasteland outside the city, where he meets with his associate, the leader of the Rise, Shockwave, whom Megatron put in the position to cause chaos, but screams at him that he wasn't to kill anyone. he warns Shockwave to not cause the Ascenticons any more problems and to never let it be reveals that they have a connection...but Shockwave has other plans in mind....

Prowl heads towards Ascenticon HQ, where he asks Soundwave to hand Barricade over to them, as they need to speak to him about some recent actions he has made, but Soundwave simply refuses them entry...

Elsewhere, a large Cybertroninan lands on the planet, and deploys her precious cargo, of Sentinel Prime and his retinue, who is fairly pissed off at the recent events on his planet, and wants to head to the Senate offices immediately to start smashing some heads together! 

Characters

Autobot

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle

Senator Orion Pax - Truck

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Security Forces

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Sideswipe - Car

Ironhide - Van

Windblade - VTOL Jet In Protective Stasis, Following Injuries

Security Cadets

Ascenticon

Senator Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Senator Soundwave - Hover Craft

Elita-1 - Car

Bumblebee - Winged Hover Craft

Acid Storm - Tetra Jet

Skytread

Other Ascenticons

Barricade (Mentioned)

The Rise

Shockwave - Space Craft

Flamewar - Motorcycle (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Froid - Jet

Flatline

Senator Heretech

Senator Crisscross

Starscream - Tetrajet

Nautica

Hound - Jeep

Firestar - Car

Road Rage

"Giant Woman" - Senate Space Shuttle

Other Two Meeting Senators

Medical Facility Staff

"Silent" Protestors

Primus (Mentioned)

Cyclonus' Ghost Friends (Mentioned) Dead

Paragon (Mentioned) Death Caused  by Pyra Magna

Pyra Magna (Mentioned) Imprisoned

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead, Confirmed Killed by a Rise Member

Other

A Skitter Crushed by Megatron

Pterasaur Aliens

Notes

• This issue's cover and synopsis was switched with last issue's, explaining the mis-matched covers, though it doesn't appear that the issues themselves were swapped, since this issue directly references the previous one heavily.
• The art duties this issue are as such: Hernandez does the scenes Senate meeting scenes, and the protest outside, Malkova deals with the scenes in the medical facilty and Sentinel's return to the planet, and McGuire-Smith does the meeting between Megatron and Shockwave.
• Uh oh, Windblade is in a "protective stasis" tube now! Last time we saw that sort of thing was when Sideswipe, who sustained injuries from an explosion and being in a crashing ship, and subsequently stayed in one for a couple of years and then died...let's see where this goes....
• Paragon, mentioned by Froid as someone whom Cyclonus has to speak to earlier is revealed to be dead, and that Pyra Magna was responsible for his death, possibly explaining why she is imprisoned too?
• Sideswipe claims to not know Flamewar's name, but since she knows his name, does this mean that he's well-known or some sort of celebrity?
• One of the Senators in the meeting is using a holo-generator to appear....why doesn't Sentinel do the same if he needs to speak to Orion and the others so badly?
• Another of the Senators is Heretech, revealed to be the leader of the Reversionists, mentioned here as being affiliated with the Autobots. This is interesting since Heretech in IDW's old continuity was a Decepticon
• Orion Pax's plan to rebrand the Rise as something more appropriate (a word that begins with "Dece-" hmmm?) is reminiscent of the use of the term "Daesh" to de-legitimize the terrorist group ISIS.
• Elita-1 shows the first signs of her not fully agreeing with the Ascenticon ways, when she shows remorse for hurting others during the protest riot.
• I CALLED IT!!! I said early on in this series that The Rise would just be an off-shoot of the Ascenticons and would in fact be controlled by Megatron or one of his cabal secretly! (I believe I even suggested Shockwave was in charge!)
• It is revealed this issue that Nominus exiled some troublemakers offworld, though this was kept quiet, so many believe it to just be a conspiracy theory.
• Interestingly, Megatron attributes Brainstorm's death to a member of the Rise, but also to Rubble's death too....is Quake classed as a member of the Rise now due to his actions, despite his prominence in the Ascenticon Guard, or does Megatron not know that Quake was the killer?
• It's finally revealed what the Rise actually is now, it was an off-shoot of the Ascenticons created to cause trouble and force the hand of the senate to give control of Cybertron to the Ascenticons, as they are the only ones who can take them down, by repealing the Nominus Edict. However Megatron claims that he never planned for anyone to actually die by their actions, and is now blaming Shockwave for it.
• The large Cybertronian who turns into a spaceship for Sentinel and his crew MIGHT be a Titan, but she may just be a giant Cybertronian (like Leviathan was mentioned as being). Also, I believe it's a female Cybertronian, simply due to her general form and appearance, I could be wrong though!
• Sentinel's comments about smashing heads together may be a reference to the toy he is modelled after being a Titan Master (aka his head turns into a tiny robot)
• We don't see any insignias on any of Sentinel's crew, but since all of them (except Starscream) are traditionally Autobots, and are under his command, we can probably assume they are in the political party too.

IDW - Transformers (2019) #3

Title: The World In Your Eyes, Part Three

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez & Cachet Whitman

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Following the attack on his rally, Megatron announces on a live feed that he has formed a new Ascenticon guard to protect himself and the rest of his people.

Chromia, watching from the security offices is horrified to see Quake amongst the new fighters, as he is well known for being unstable and hyper-violent, having been without a cause since the end of their wars a long time ago. Froid soon arrives and tries to get Orion to stop Megatron from using Quake due to his mentality, which Orion agrees to, if he is able to that is...

Orion Pax orders his security forces to continue their investigations and bolster their troops, in case things go bad.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee is showing off his alternate mode to Rubble and trying to get him to choose a form for himself to adopt, however, Rubble is distracted by the Winged Moon again, and watches as it closes up.

Bee, trying to reclaim Rubble's interest points out a larger Cybertronian to him named Leviathan, who roams the planet for ores to be processed into new bodies and materials for others to use.

Bee realizes that Rubble is stuck on the topic of the Moon however, and suggests that they go visit it again soon, and this time actually travel up the Tether to visit the Moon first-hand. Rubble looks excited, until; he suddenly ducks, as Windblade swoops in fast, almost knocking the two over.

Bee moans at his friend for scaring him, but she states that he is needed with the Senate for a meeting, and that she'll escort Rubble back to his home.

On their way to his apartment, Rubble worries that he's disappointed Bee by not being interesting in everything he's been shown, but Windblade rebukes that, stating that Bee is ecstatic to be his mentor as it is a great honour to be chosen to do so, and reassures him that Bee is just worried about Brainstorm's murder and that's all.

The two of them arrive at Rubble's apartment building, but are met by Chromia and Geomotus when they get inside. Chromia asks Windblade to help them with their investigation at the Transmission Station, as Froid doesn't like Geomotus to be around Prowl, as he is irritating. Rubble is left behind, but Chromia links his communicator with her's and Prowl's, in case he needs help with anything...

Outside, Windblade immediately realizes that Chromia placed a tracer onto the signal too, but she states that it's inactive, but can be turned on if they discover he is SOMEHOW involved in this incident....

In his room, Rubble believes that he can see a Titan in the sky from his balcony...

Elsewhere, Orion Pax opens a large set of doors and meets with a Cybertronian names Codexa, who is melding with the walls of the room, and he tells her that something is going wrong....

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces

Orion Pax - Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Chromia - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Ironhide - Van

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Sideswipe - Car (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Jet

Quake - Tank

Skytread - Tank and Jet

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Other Ascenticons (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Rubble

Geomotus - Radar Mounted Rover

Froid - Jet

Leviathan - Metal Ore Harvester

Codexa Being Merged into Cybertron

Random Cybertronians

Cyclonus - Jet (Flashback Only)

Threefold Spark Army (Flashback Only) Defeated

Ancient Cybertronian Army (Flashback Only)

Sentinel Prime (Mentioned)

Nominus (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Wheeljack - Car (Mentioned)

Blurr (Mentioned)

Bee's Senator Friends (Mentioned)

The Rise (Mentioned)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Megatron's Attacker (Mentioned)

Mystery Prisoner (Mentioned)

Bee's Past Mentor (Mentioned)

Other

Aliens on Cybertron

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Mentioned)

Notes

• Okay! Conspiracy time! My guess is that Megatron's "attacker" was a plant by him to try bring sympathy and legitimacy to his own faction, hence why the explosion hurt no-one, and the weapon's fire was stated to be too weak to harm him or anyone.
• Also, continuing from last month's theory, The Rise did kill Brainstorm, but they are also an off-shoot or allied faction to the Ascenticons, I'm guessing we'll get the answers by the end of this story arc.
• The named Ascenticon guards in this issue are all references to recent toylines. Skytread and Refraktor are from the Siege toyline (and are the trademark friendly names for Flywheels and Reflector). Quake is based on his Titans Return toy, and Elita-1 is seemingly based on her Power of the Primes body, but still with wings similar to her Timelines toy.
• Interestingly, if the characters are supposed to be in scale to their toys, then if Elita is based on the Timelines figure, then she's perfectly in scale with Skytread and Refraktor, but if not, then she should tower over them. Quake on the other hand, is way too big, possibly to make him seem more dangerous?
• Oh hey! It's Froid! This is the first IDW 1.0 exclusive character to make an appearance in the new continuity, and from the sounds of it, it looks like he's pretty much taken Rung's original role in the series, as a background psychologist who has concerns about the mental health of other Cybertronians.
• It's mentioned that there's a patient that Froid is not allowed to meet with, this is either a reference to his previous role, where he eventually helped a serial killer to find victims in IDW 1.0, or it is a hint at where Termagax is hiding (since she can't have died, since that would defy the whole premise of this series)
• A previous war before the peaceful era is revealed here, regarding something called the "Threefold Spark", and it's actions led to the Nominus Edict, which is implied to regarding the limitation of how many Cybertronians can be allowed to be born. All we know about them, is that they had a faction symbol.
• Cyclonus is seen amongst the ancient warriors against the Threefold Spark, continuing the recent trend of him being an old character, and not a creation of Unicron. He appears to be using his Combiner Wars character model in his brief appearances.
• Sentinel Prime is namedropped as the head of the Senate, a reference to his Aligned continuity counterpart...hopefully this one isn't a twat like Infinitus was....
• Bumblebee's alternate mode is revealed to be the winged hovercraft that he had in the first episode of the Transformers G1 cartoon....DOES THIS MEAN WE GET A TOY OF IT NOW?!?!
• Rubble sure does have a fascination with the Winged Moon doesn't he? Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye? Like maybe he's a recycled spark of someone who worked there, or maybe even Termagax in a new body/mind?
• This story shows us that Leviathan (and likely others) gather up ore to be used for the construction of Cybertronian bodies. This implies that the birthing process for Forged Cybertronians is different in this continuity, as in IDW 1.0 their bodies were made from the Sentio Metalica found around their Spark, not from a separate source...
• A piece of graffiti in the street on the way to Rubble's apartment states "Kill the Killers. Death to Hu-" with the rest being obscured by a removal laser. What the hell could that be about?!
• Also, adding to the constant note that this Cybertron isn't as idyllic as it may seem, the street mentioned above is VERY dark and dingy, especially when compared to anywhere else we see in this issue!
• The new character Geomotus is designed to be on the Cybertronina version of the Autistic Spectrum, which is why he needs his "shapes" to feel comfortable in unusual locations for him. Though, I'm not sure exactly why a geologist is needed in a murder investigation, I know they say that he can see "patterns" and things others cannot, but isn't that Prowl's whole shtick? 
• Barricade and Sideswipe are mentioned as being part of the security team. Barricade is obvious since his whole deal is being a cop, but Sideswipe's role here appears to be based on his IDW 1.0 counterpart, who had a security position in the early parts of Robots in Disguise.
• Codexa, one of the Cybetronians who have merged with the planet, but apparently is still alive, (which is disturbing to think about, since we saw Rubble climbing all over one a couple issues ago) is also shown to be at least 2-3 times the size of Orion Pax. This is the third larger Cybertronian we've seen this issue (Leviathan, Codexa and a random character Rubble admires in the street). Were Cybertronians just larger in the past or something? We're they downsized at some time in this mysterious history?

IDW - Lost Light #11

Title: The Plotter's Club Part 2: Filling in the Blanks

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence & Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Not long ago, Getaway sees Froid, Rung's psychiatrist rival, and asks for his opinion on what has been happening on the ship for the past few months.

He explains that following their return to Cybertron for Dark Cybertron, he and Atomizer started interviewing the crew to see who they can trust in the case of a mutiny against Megatron and Rodimus, as they believe the quest is getting side-tracked by Megatron on purpose to delay his trial, they manage to get most of the crew on their side, but of course have Rodimus' allies and 25 undecided to contend with. They even manage to convince Thunderclash, who thinks it's a good plan, but admits that things went wrong quite rapidly.

Following his failed attempt to get Megatron to kill Tailgate, he was arrested, which the rest of the crew took as a cue to get Rodimus and the others off ship, release Getaway, and then abandon the "Rod Squad".

Getaway is taken to the bridge, where the ship receives it's call from Rodimus, and Getaway brags about how the crew is sick with them and have put him in charge, however it soon becomes apparent that the crew are not actually fully on his side, and were unaware that Getaway has involved the Galactic Council in this, and sent them after Megatron too, or that he was going to be captain of the ship. Getaway soon states that once they reach Cyberutopia he'll step down as captain, if the crew want him to, and also claims that he told the Galactic Council to leave the other Autobots alone, and to only go after Megatron.

Getaway soon makes his way to Rodimus' former office where he tries to contact the Galactic Council to change the terms of their deal, to indeed keep the other Autobots safe, but they aren't interested and cut him off. Atomizer suggests that he do something big in order to make the crew respect him after the situation on the bridge, and he knows exactly what to do...

A couple weeks later, Getaway visits Perceptor in his lab, where he has been studying something for him that he learned about on Luna-1. He has located a system of tunnels in space that Tyrest was originally planning to use to get to Cyberutopia.

Getaway assembles some of the crew to discuss the Warren and promises that they'll be in Cyberutopia within weeks, but they wonder why Tyrest ever gave up on the tunnels, which Geatway just ignores.

Blaster receives an SOS message from the planet Freyus, who are caught in the crossfire between the Galactic Council and the Black Block Consortia, but Getaway declines their request for help, as he doesn't want to get distracted, this angers the crew as they still want to help others, but the argument is cut short....the message sent three weeks earlier from Necroworld has reached the Lost Light and is automatically playing.

Rodimus uses his segment of the message to expose Getaway as having sold him and the others to the DJD, who are about to kill them. He asks for his innermost energon to be sold, as it is Matrix enriched and for the money to be used to hire a Bounty Hunter to kill Getaway using a gun made from his own body. Before the message can continue though Getaway cuts it off and claims that it is fake, and has the crew leave. Thunderclash stays behind and demands answers. Getaway tries to explain that he had to cut off the call, or the DJD would trace it to them, but Thunderclash points out the contradiction immediately. He states his plans to go back to Necroworld to save Rodimus and the others, and he's sure the rest of the crew will too.

Atomiser shoots him with an arrow, leading him to turn to attack, but he is shot by Getaway using his Nudge Gun, and even empties the cartridge into the "Greatest Autobot Ever", putting him into a coma. He notices that Riptide has been watching this scene from the door, he runs, but Getaway soon finds him, and shoots him too.

Back in the present, Geatway reveals that all of that has only just happened, and Riptide is under the bench he was laying on. He gets onto his real objective, he wants Sunder, Froid's patient, to use his long-range Mnemosurgery skills to convince the crew that Rodimus and his friends decided to leave the ship on their own terms, and make them forget about the message about the DJD, and also trap Thunderclash into a looped memory.

Sunder agrees to do this, in exchange for 25 crew member's brain modules with life-cords attached, so he can feed on their memories. Getaway isn't sure, but is manipulated by Froid into agreeing. Getaway does, much to Atomizer's ire, but decides to use the first 25 names on the list of undecided mutineers, as he considers them threats to his plans, but also suggests one amendment to their plan, the security team need to believe that the crew members they are set upon are Decepticon spies, so they wont question their orders...

Eventually the Protectobots return to the Lost Light, and learn what happened to Rodimus and the others, and are attacked by security as they try to escape to warn Optimus and the rest of Cybertron. Riptide reveals that he was never mind-wiped from the gun shot, since the gun had been drained from Thunderclash's shots. Riptide starts insulting Getaway for his stupid plan, so he decides to take him for a "swim".

On their way to the Oil Reservoir, Getaway hears from Powerflash that the Protectobots have been captured and placed in cells. Riptide is taken into the Reservoir, where he is shown it is filled with domesticated red Scraplets, which have been trained to eat a Cybertronian, leaving only the life cord and brain module behind. He shoots Riptide with the Nudge Gun again, commanding him to forget how to turn into his boat mode, and knocks him into the oil.....

Characters

Autobot

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Car

Thunderclash - Truck Trapped in Looped Memory by Sunder

Riptide - Boat Knocked into Oil Reservoir filled with Red Scraplets by Getaway

Sunder

Mainframe

Perceptor - Tank

Hoist - Tow Truck

Blaster - Acoustic Tank

Crosscut - Van

Hound - Jeep

Xaaron

Megatron - Tank

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Tailgate - Car

Swerve - Van

Skids - Van

Rewind - Data Slug

Grapple - Crane

Inferno - Fire Truck

Smokescreen - Car

Siren - Car

Bluestreak - Car

Dipstick - Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Huffer - Truck

Gears - Van

Joyride - Buggy

Slapdash - F1 Race Car

Jackpot - Car

Hosehead - Fire Truck

Sprocket - Aircraft

Pointblank - Car

Boss - Car

Grotusque - Winged Cat Monster

Dogfight - Jet

Strafe - Jet

Rook - SWAT Personnel Carrier

Streetwise - Police Car

Powerflash - Jet (Voice Only)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned)

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned)

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator (Mentioned)

Nightbeat - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned)

Highbrow - Helicoper (Mentioned)

Fervor (Mentioned) Possibly Fed to Sunder

Turbine (Mentioned) Possibly Fed to Sunder

25 Undecided Mutineers (Mentioned) Fed to Sunder

Decepticon

Ravage - Cassette

Overlord - Tank and Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Froid - Jet

Cyclonus - Jet

Red Scraplet

Chief Justice Tyrest (Mentioned)

Necrobot (Mentioned)

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Other

Galactic Council Agent (On Screen)

Death's Head (Mentioned)

General Neech (Mentioned)

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

The Fraynians (Mentioned)

Notes

• Alex Milne and Priscilla Tramontano's art credits in this issue are due to the reuse of the scenes from MTMTE #50
• Thunderclash being up and about whilst Getaway is creeping on Tailgate is technically a mistake since he should be in a coma until the climax of that plot-line. However when questioned about it on Twitter, James Roberts mentions that this happens during a brief relapse of Thunderclash's, which is going to be mentioned in a future "retcon".
• Froid and Sunder are shown to STILL be on the Lost Light, but in the brig until this issue.
• It is confirmed here that my theory that the crew was either mis-informed or brainwashed to be okay with Rodimus and the others being left on Necroworld were BOTH sort of correct. The crew were originally mis-led, but when they found out the truth they were "brainwashed" by Sunder's long-range Mnemosurgery. This also shows us that the strange behaviour last issue was due to the brainwashing, and not a forged dream for the Protectobots.
• In contrast to the assertions last issue, the crew actually do want to help other planets out, rather than ignoring them like Getaway does in order to get to Cyberutopia faster.
• We were shown during the "Dying of the Light" finale of MTMTE we saw Getaway trying to contact Neech to renegotiate the terms of their deal, so we know this part of the story wasn't fabricated at all.
• The Warren was briefly mentioned last issue, here we learn that it's basically a series of subspace tunnels that lead across the galaxy...Think of it sort of like the Borg subspace tunnels seen at the end of Star Trek Voyager.
• As mentioned in this issue, Getaway was held prisoner by Tyrest on Luna-1, which we learn here gave him insight into his theories and plans before ignoring him at some point.
• So...this issue brings up another issue I have with the continuity in IDW right now...we see that Rodimus DID mention in the video-will that Getaway sold them out to the DJD (he didn't know about the DJD being there, but whatever)...SO WHY HAS OPTIMUS NOT SENT A CREW AFTER THEM YET?!?!?!? WE KNOW HE GOT THE MESSAGE, ALONG WITH EVERYONE ON CYBERTRON!!!
• The Bounty Hunter that Rodimus is referring to in his will is Death's Head....I can't see him actually appearing in an IDW comic, but he has been referenced in other IDW material before.
• Sunder is still talking in his regular voice, rather than the Mortilus impression...we know this due to the speech bubble being white instead of black.
• The brain modules with teeth marks from last issue are revealed to be the payment for Sunder brainwashing the crew of the ship, who were chosen due to being undecided on whether to mutiny or not
• The security crew's attitude is also shown to be under the impression that anyone who disagrees with Getaway is a Decepticon spy...this explains their gun-happiness last issue.
• The Scraplets in this issue are designed after the Aligned continuity versions of the species, just coloured red.
• Despite his apparent collusion with him, we see throughout this issue that Atomizer is becoming less sure about this plan, and keeps glaring at Getaway...my guess is he will be in some way responsible for Getaway's inevitable all next issue.
• The Protectobots are mentioned as having been locked in separate cells, does Getaway and the crew know about Defensor yet or not?!?
• Last issue we saw Getaway lead First Aid to the Oil Reservoir before hearing what he had to say...we can assume that he was about to send him to the Scraplets too if he said something he didn't like. 
• Here's a question...just how many shots do the Nudge Guns have? When Brainstorm analysed Skids' one before, he said it had two canisters for two shots...we see Getaway shoot Thunderclash at least half a dozen times here...
• We can assume from this issue that the hidden thrusters on Luna-1 were built to enable the planetoid to travel through the Warren before Tyrest started his Space Bridge plan.
• It's explained that Getaway has an irrational desire to become a Prime, this actually explains a fair few things about his character and even design. He has a mouth plate and general helmet design of a traditional Prime. Also his massive ego and power grabbing personality make sense knowing this...maybe this is also why he hates Rodimus, he's jealous that he has natural Matrix-affinity and even held it for a while, along with Thunderclash who held the Matrix for Optimus for a short while.
• Since it took me a while to get to their issue, I have seen the profiles for issue 12, and see that Riptide does survive his "swim". My guess is that Getaway never recharged his Nudge Gun, and it is still empty when he uses it to make Riptide forget how to transform.