IDW - Transformers: Shattered Glass II #3

Written by: Danny Lore

Art by: Guido Guidi

Inks by: Matt Froese

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Colour Assists by: Ed Pirrie

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

 

Plot

Slicer meets with Ratchet, who has set up shop in a new location, following the taking of Gold City, where Ratchet explains that he doesn't care who wins the war, since his job is just to put the pieces back together. He also mentions that Slicer is due a new arm soon, as he has a habit of destroying his ones regularly.

Slicer drives through the Static Zone towards Metroplex's partially reactivated body, where he tests out the effectiveness of his modifications to Blaster's decapitated head, which is able to keep a partial signal to Soundwave's radio frequencies, despite the extreme interference in the Static Zone.

Inside the Titan, Slicer plants bombs, in case he needs them later, and searches for Starscream's spark, which he locates in Metroplex's control room. He also finds Goldbug, who is trying to get the Titan working, but doesn't really understand how to do so. Slicer pretends to be loyal to Goldbug, and helps him to fix the Titan's systems, but notices that the Titan seems to be reactive to the nearby patrolling Jetfire's presence.

Slicer tries to get Goldbug to report how often the Titan tends to activate for, but the former Gold City despot is unwilling to be helpful. Soundwave's voice on the Blaster-radio mentions a front line patrol from the Decepticons, which gives Slicer an idea...

The Air Strike Patrol fly through the Static Zone on their duty, when they are attacked, and all taken out by Slicer and Goldbug, as a ploy to bring Jetfire in closer. Before Jetfire can arrive, Goldbug turns on Slicer, revealing that he knows Slicer has been using him, and that he's still loyal to the Wreckers, but he's been using him too. Before he can kill Slicer however, Jetfire arrives, and lands on top of Goldbug, crushing Starscream's murderer, most likely killing him.

Jetfire prepares to kill Slicer too, but the latter activates a bomb in his arm to injure the rogue scientist, allowing the rest of the hidden Wreckers to ensnare him, with Slicer ordering them to keep him alive, as he isn't sure how needed he is to control Metroplex yet.

Slicer wonders if Ratchet foresaw his stunt with the bomb, or if his words put the idea of blowing up his own arm with his earlier comments, but doesn't have the time to contemplate it too far, as a troop of Decepticons, led by Flamewar come roaring towards him....

Characters

Autobot

Slicer - Car

Jetfire - Jet Captured by the Wreckers

Goldbug - Car Crushed by Jetfire

Ratchet - Ambulance

Rodimus - Car

Drift - Car

Tailgate - Car

Helicopter - Helicopter/Car

Blaster (Decapitated Head Only) Dead

Blurr - Car (Melted Corpse) Dead

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Visper - Jet Killed by Slicer

Storm Cloud - Jet Killed by Slicer

Nightflight - Jet Killed by Goldbug

Tailwind - Jet Killed by Slicer

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Hailstorm - Tank

Hotlink - Jet

Sunstorm - Jet

Tracer - Helicopter

Barricade - Police Car

Starscream (Disembodied Spark Only) Dead

"Exo-Suit"  (Arm Only)

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Voice Only)

Megatron - Jet (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Metroplex - Titan Ship Partially Reactivated 

Ratchet's "Patients" Disassembled to Death

Notes

• This Hasbro Pulse release of this issue comes with a Shattered Glass Collection Slicer, with Exo-Suit figure. Unlike the other members of the collection, this figure features a positive polarity Decepticon insignia, rather than a Negative polarity Autobot one (both are evil, but still, it's different). The figure is also designed to be used as the G1 character of Slicer too, who was originally an Action Master. It's still unknown why the character and figure was named Slicer, instead of Wheeljack, especially since Wheeljack is still in trademark, and has been used in very recent years.
• The Exo-suit figure that comes with this issue gets a very brief reference at the start of this issue, as the arm that Ratchet sets aside to use as a replacement for Slicer's, assuming he will damage his current one soon.
• Though not mentioned, it's very likely that the eyes that Slicer gives to Ratchet were Blaster's, since his decapitated head is seen eyeless this issue.
• On his way to the Titan, Wheeljack drives past, and ignores, the melted corpse of Blurr, from the first issue of the first series of Shattered Glass.
• Goldbug mentions that he's going to "punt" Blaster's head into space. While it's probably just a funny coincidence, that's what Rodimus did to Wheelie, who was a decapitated head, in the Last Bot Standing mini-series.
• Slicer references Goldbug as a "failed Wrecker" this issue. We saw his previous persona, Bumblebee, as a member of the Wreckers in issue one of this series. This implies that he was fired or left in disgrace from the group,
• Tailgate is seen amongst the Wreckers this issue, using the same body he sported from the Timelines comics. Surprisingly it still appears to use the Thrilling Thirty mould as the basis, rather than the newer Titans Return design.
• The team of Decepticons that make their entrance into the battle at the end of this issue are mostly made of "Team Stream" from the now completed IDW continuity.
• It seems like Metroplex is being powered by Starscream, with his spark resonating with Jetfire's presence, due to their close past relationship, so I'm going to guess that the Titan will end up joining the Decepticons, if he survives this series at all.
• Hailstorm, who appears at the end of the issue was originally a figure from the HFTD line, which is mostly aligned with the movie continuities, but this character did make a couple of cameos in IDW comics as a G1 character. His colourscheme seems to be based on Strika, originally a Vehicon General from Beast Machines, but has made appearances as an Autobot, Decepticon and even Neutral in G1-set comics since then.

IDW - Shattered Glass #5

Written by: Danny Lore

Art by: Guido Guidi

Inks by: Matt Froese

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Design by: Jake Wood & Johanna Nattalie

Plot

The Decepticons, led by Megatron, have started their assault on Gold City to try and usurp it from Goldbug, and rescue Starscream from his clutches.

Inside the lab, Goldbug tries to force Starscream to give him access to the Titan codes within his spark, but he refuses, and Jetfire continues to try and defend his old friend from his current boss.

Eventually however, Starscream gets shot in the back by Goldbug, and his his spark ripped out through his back by the warlord.

Goldbug leaves, clutching the Seeker's spark casing, intending to use it to control the dormant Titans, and conquer Cybertron for himself. Jetfire is left behind, mourning over his dead friend, blaming himself for forcing him into this war, since he knew Starscream only ever wanted to live in peace.

Jetfire takes out Goldbug's guards, and once the Decepticons break into the building, he leaves, cradling Starscream's corpse.

Megatron sees this, and stops him, mistaking him for trying to do something to the body, but Jetfire soon breaks down, blaming himself for everything. Megatron soon manages to calm him down, and offers to help him take revenge on Goldbug for what he's done, which Jetfire considers...

Slicer makes his way into a sewer tunnel, where he makes contact with his real boss, Ultra Magnus, who isnt concerned with Goldbug having the Titan-control coded spark, as he's sure Optimus and Prowl allowed him to go this far, as they plan to take him out themselves so they can get the Titans instead...

At the Titan excavation site, Goldbug starts to reactivate the long dormant Metroplex....

Characters

Decepticon

Megatron - Jet

Starscream - Jet Spark Torn out by Goldbug

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Barricade - Police Car

Dirge - Jet

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle

Random Decepticons

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Goldbug - Hatchback

Prowl - Police Car

Jetfire - Jet

Slicer - Race Car

Blaster - Boom Box

Jazz - Car

Chromedome - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Holo-Communicator Only)

Gold City Security Team - Hatchbacks Killed by Jetfire

Random Autobots

Other Cybertronian

Metroplex - Titan Ship Awakening

Notes

• Just as an update, in the sheer amount of time since I actually received this comic (with Jetfire) Hasbro have finally released issue 3 with Starscream, so the collection is now complete (so far)
• It's kind of hilarious, now I have the Jetfire figure, how out of scale the characters are in this series, in terms of the toys they are being used to promote.
• Refraktor was last seen as a victim of the Autobot Bodyscrappers, so seeing him here either means that was just one aspect of him (like Viewfinder or Spectro etc) or he managed to escape them.
• Jetfire's possible defection at the end of this issue is most likely a reference to the faction-switch feature on the toy, carried over from his Siege counterpart.
• Slicer working for Ultra Magnus, against Optimus, is likely a reference to his role in the Invasion comic, where Ultra Magnus is aided by Wheeljack to destroy another Universe...hopefully this doesn't happen again though...that was a mess to clean up!
• Metroplex is shown awakening at the end of this issue. However he appears to have been buried up to his head again, unlike how we saw him in issue one...

IDW - Shattered Glass #4

Written by: Danny Lore

Art by: Daniel Khanna

Inks by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Neil Uyetake 

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Design by: Jake Wood & Johanna Nattalie

Plot

Following his fatal shooting by Megatron, during the final battle on Earth, Bumblebee is rebuilt into Goldbug by Ratchet, only to be disheartened when he learns that Optimus only allowed it, since they just happened to have spare Protoforms on the ship.

Some time later, Goldbug attempts to warn Optimus that Prowl is plotting against him, but the Autobot Commander is uninterested, since he doesn't see Prowl as a threat. Goldbug insults him, leading the Prime to knock him out with a jackhammer, taken from a worker. Shortly afterwards, Prowl approaches Goldbug, and attempts to convince him of plans for Cyberton again...

Later, Goldbug has been convinced by Prowl, and attempts to assassinate Optimus, though he fails, he escapes from his city, and makes his way to a city, he later renames Gold City...

In the present, Starscream is being held captive by Goldbug at Gold City, being tortured by Jetfire on his orders to gain access to the Seeker's ability to awaken the sleeping Titans.

An intruder alert is sounded, leading Goldbug to leave and deal with it himself. He quickly locates Skywarp, who has infiltrated to find Starscream, but the Autobot Warlord quickly defeats and decapitates him.

Goldbug returns to the torture chamber, and throws Skywarp's severed head at Goldbug, to try and scare him into using his Titan control powers for him, but Starscream is still defiant, and continues to insult Goldbug for his obsession with both Optimus and Megatron...

The Insecticons invade the facility next, taking out as many guards as they can along the way, however Goldbug goes after them by himself too, tearing through them, one by one...

After killing the Insecticons, Goldbug has had enough, and decides to speed up the matter, deciding that Jetfire is possibly stalling due to some lingering feelings for his old friend, he returns to the torture chamber, and threatens to kill Starscream too, to Jetfire's horror!

Characters

Autobot

Goldbug/Bumblebee - Hatchback

Jetfire - Jet

Slicer - Race Car

Tap-Out - Hatchback

Freeway - Hatchback

Searchlight - Hatchback

Wideload - Dump Truck

Random Autobots

Optimus Prime - Truck (Flashback)

Prowl - Police Car (Flashback)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback)

Decepticon

Starscream - Jet

Skywarp - Jet Killed by Goldbug

Kickback - Locust Likely Killed by Goldbug

Skrapnel - Stag Beetle Killed by Goldbug

Bombshell - Boll Weevil Killed by Goldbug

Ransack - Locust Likely Killed by Goldbug

Venom - Cicada Killed by Goldbug

Megatron - Jet (Flashback)

Thundercracker - Jet (Flashback)

Other

Miners (Flashback)

Titans (Mentioned)

Notes

• Unlike the previous issue, this issue was also released with a Shattered Glass figure of the cover character, in this case, Goldbug, (Starscream is currently delayed until early January)
• Confirming what was assumed previously, Megatron's attack on Bumblebee is what prompted him to get upgraded to Goldbug.
• Goldbug uses a pair of electrocuted rods to fight Skywarp this issue...his toy does not come with these...sadly...
• A character named Slicer is featured this issue, he's based on the G1 Decepticon character of the same name, which was also the colourscheme used for Shattered Glass Wheeljack in the past...so who knows what's going on there! (Most likely there's a planned Slicer toy release, which will be reusable as Shattered Glass Wheeljack too)
• Most of the troops working under Goldbug appear to share the same toy mould as him, but with different heads.
• We only see Kickback and Ransack get knocked over during the battle, but it's very likely that Goldbug killed them too
• Optimus is shown using an axe in the flashback, but his toy doesn't feature one...again, very sad...

IDW - Optimus Prime #13

Title: The Dead Come Home Part 1

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Slug - Triceratops

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter

Goldbug - Car

Rollbar - Jeep

Chase - Car

Searchlight - Car Killed by Beast Army

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost" Only)

Sideswipe - Sports Car (Mentioned) Body Interred in Tomb

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Metroplex - Iacon City (Mentioned)

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned)

The Other Torchbearers (Mentioned)

Freeway - Car (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Wideload - Dump Truck (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Decepticon

Swift - Helicopter

Bludgeon - Tank

Sixshot - Sixchanger (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Centurion - Luxury Car

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Knock Out - Sports Car

Obsidian - Stealth Osprey Helicopter

Elita One 

Mistress of Flame

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Bob, the Insecticon

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Roulette - Muscle Car

Gimlet - Lobster

Bump - Armadillo

Funeral Crowd

A Protoform (Image Only)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Antagony - Ant (Mentioned) Dead

The Titan Swarm (Mentioned) Dead

Beast Army

Cicadacon - Cicada Shot by Prowl

Sharp Edge - Saw Shark

Drancron - Lizard-Dragonfly

Hydra - Pteranodon

Other Beasts

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ian Noble/Action Man (Mentioned)

Ayana Jones/Mayday (Mentioned)

The Iron Ring (Mentioned)

Red Shadow Ninjas (Mentioned)

Other

Garnak

"Bludgeon's Master" (Mentioned)

Solstar Order (Mentioned)

Notes

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