IDW - Lost Light #10

Title: The Plotters' Club, Part 1: Full Circle

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence 

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Protectobots and Mirage finally return to the Lost Light, which appears to be under radio silence, but their shuttle is damaged and they are running on fumes, they wind up crashing into the shuttle bay, only to find a heavily armed security team greeting them, instead of a welcoming party. Getaway soon appears and greets them as friends, but he is cagey about the whereabouts of Rodimus, Megatron and the others, and suggests that First Aid take Blade to the medibay, as he was injured in the crash.

At the medibay, First Aid talks with Blades as he repairs him, and they find it odd how they STILL haven't seen their captains, and start reminiscing over Rodimus' antics. First Aid thinks something is happening, which makes Blades panic that there's a virus on the ship that's going to kill everyone. First Aid ignores this suggestion, but finds that the medibay's computer is now password protected to keep him out. First Aid uses another machine to perform a spark scan of the ship, and is shocked that there is less crew than there was before they left, but also finds that one of the sparks is in a locked room in the medibay.

Blades leaves to find some help, whilst First Aid takes out a blowtorch and tries to break into the room, only to be stopped by a newly arrived Getaway, who claims the door isn't actually opened, and shows him Thunderclash, who is back in a coma again. He claims that Hoist has tried everything, but cannot wake him up.

First Aid asks him about the missing crew members and the passwords on the computer. He says that he'll fix the password, but lies that Rodimus and the others left the ship to look for the Knights of Cybertron with the Necrobot without dealing with the antics of the rest of the crew. Getaway suggests that he go see Hoist about Thunderclash's situation, directing him to "Visages" which has taken "Swerve's'" as the go-to bar on the ship.

First Aid soon arrives at the bar, where he does indeed find most of the crew. He locates Hoist after a few awkward stares from Atomizer and the security crew. He learns from Hoist and a few others the names of the crew who "left" with Rodimus, and also that they are apparently only a couple of weeks away from Cyberutopia now, but First Aid begins to become further worried and leaves the bar...

First Aid finds his way to the locked-up "Swerve's" where he finds the power turned off, and he summons the rest of the Protectobots and Mirage for a talk. He expresses his concerns to them about the crew lying to them about what happened to Rodimus, and recalls a conversation about a possible mutiny with Getaway before they left Cybertron following the Dark Cybertron event, which the other Protectobots claim to have never been spoken to about. Mirage is unwilling to even discuss this as he trusts his friends, but Riptide soon appears in the bar and confirms the theory, but also adds that he believes that the DJD were summoned by Getaway to kill Rodimus, Megatron and the others, as well as him putting Thunderclash into a coma for also having second thoughts of the mutiny.

Getaway appears and dismisses the claims that he attacked Thudnerclash, but explains that he placed him into a looped memory coma, keeping him trapped inside his memories, reliving his decision to leave the ship. Streetwise finds the light switch and turns it on, revealing that the Engex distilleries are holding several severed brain modules inside them, revealing the location of the missing crew members.

Mirage turns invisible and attacks Getaway with a glass, and the returned Autobots are soo attacked by the security team. Riptide stays behind to buy the Protectobots time to escape, as they run off to the shuttle bay, intending to return to Cybertron to tell Optimus and everyone else what has happened on the ship. Blades' arm is injured in their escape, in the same way it was when he was patched up by First Aid at the start of this adventure....

The Protectobots find their own ship, fully repaired in record time, and take off within it. They are shot by a proton missile from the Lost Light, which damages their shuttle, and they are caught in a tractor beam, and forced back towards the Lost Light...and the events from the start of the issue start again...ending with First Aid being suggested to repair Blades again, with apparently no memory of what just happened....

Characters

Autobot

First Aid - Ambulance Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Hot Spot - Fire Truck Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Streetwise - Police Car Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Groove - Police Motorcycle Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Blades - Rescue Helicopter Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Rook - Armoured SWAT Van Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Mirage - F1 Race Car Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Riptide - Boat

Thunderclash - Truck Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Car

Hoist - Tow Truck

Hound - Jeep

Xaaron

Bluestreak - Car

Jackpot - Car

Crosscut - Van

Mainframe

Powerflash - Jet

Strafe - Jet

Boss - Car

Doublecross - Two Headed Dragon

Repugnus - Insect Monster

Grotusque - Winged Cat Monster

Sureshot - Baja Buggy

Pointblank - Car

Waverider - Submarine

Highbrow - Helicopter

Rad - Car

Dipstick - Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Grapple - Crane

Siren - Car

Gears - Van

Smokescreen - Car

Inferno - Fire Truck

Brawn - Van

Huffer - Truck

Ammo

Aquabat - Hovercraft/Bat

Rodimus - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Nightbeat - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Skids - Van (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Velocity - Race Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Nautica - Submarine (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Rewind - Data Slug (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Rung - Photon Crystal Generator (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Swerve - Van (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Tailgate - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Prowl - Police Car (Mentioned)

Perceptor - Tank (Mentioned)

Blaster - Acoustic Tank (Mentioned)

Hosehead - Fire Truck (Mentioned)

Tiretread - Race Car (Mentioned)

25 Lost Light Crew Members (Mentioned) Missing

Decepticon

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Ravage - Cassette (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Other Cybertronian

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Necrobot (Mentioned)

Ten (Mentioned)

Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)

Other

The Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

The Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the first part of the "Mutineers Trilogy", following the return of both the Lost Light, it's mutinous crew and the Protectobots.
• It's mentioned that the Protectobots have been gone for "months". It has been over two years in real world time since they left for "Combiner Wars". I know time doesn't pass exactly the same in the comics as it does in the real world, but this seems a bit strange. However since they are stuck in a looping memory, it's possible that they actually returned a few months ago and have just been trapped for a while now.
• Similarly to the above note, how did the Protectobots never receive the message from the trapped Lost Lighters on Necroworld...also now I think about it, did that message ever mention the mutiny or Getaway betraying them? You'd think one of them would want that information to reach Optimus or the other authorities right?
• It's mentioned in the "Story so far" that Rook was just a random Autobot who just happened to be standing near the Protectobots when they were merged into Defensor...oops?
• Hoist being the interim medical officer on the Lost Light makes some...kind of sense...he was shown to have some medical knowledge when he worked on Tripodeca during Overlord's assault on the ship, though his patient did end up dying....
• First Aid asks Mirage for a "pint" of Engex. I would say this was a mistake, since a "pint" would be a relatively small drink for a Transformer, but after asking James Roberts on Twitter, this is just a Cybertronian equivalent to a pint (like it's short for a "mega-pint" or something)
• It's mentioned that Perceptor was shocked when he learned that Brainstorm left with Rodimus, considering that he is known for being the subject of Brainstorm's stalking, and him being absent from the bridge during the issue the crew were exiled, it's possible that he wasn't aware of what was happening with them. In fact, his absence in this issue could be due to him being one of the "missing" crew members.
• On the other hand, Mirage's assertion that Bluestreak would never do anything deceptive like mutiny is somewhat wrong, as he WAS amongst the bridge crew who was present during Getaway's talk with them.
• From the dialogue, it seems clear that Mirage and First Aid originally agreed to a mutiny with Getaway, but the latter has since changed his mind, the rest of the Protectobots rejected the plan and got their minds wiped. This is somewhat confirmed at the start and end scenes where Getaway only really talks to or addresses Mirage, First Aid and Rook, the latter of which wasn't a part of the crew before now.
• The teethmarks on the spinal columns of the detached brain modules are likely an attempt by Getaway to make it look like Helex of the DJD attacked these crew members, as that was his main method of torture.
• Mainframe was the one who suggested that Whirl leave with Rodimus back in Issue 50 of MTMTE, his glee at him having left here really shows what a jerk he is!
• Considering this issue is set within what is essentially a shared dream, it's possible, and likely that the events depicted were either modified by Getaway to make the crew seem happier, or to alter some facts.
• I'm going to assume that since Defensor is never brought up in this issue that the Protectobots will be freed from their looped memory coma by combining, since getaway doesn't know about him yet.
• My guess as to the main back story here, is that the Lost Light picked up the distress signal from Necroworld, which led the bridge crew at least to know that their exiled crew members were seemingly given to the DJD by Getaway, leading to Riptide's suspicions, Thunderclash's attempted escape and the fates of the missing 25 crew members. I'm also going to guess that most of the crew either weren't told about the exiled crew not actually leaving on their own, or have been lied to since the beginning by Getaway.
• The four pages at the end of the comic are a reprinting of the first four, with only the title being added at the end, and the final panel's dialogue having a single difference...First Aid saying "Ah", instead of "Oh". Also Getaway's dialogue is completed on this panel, instead of continuing to the next, non-existent page.
• For some reason, First Aid keeps proclaiming "God" rather than the usual "Primus" or another Transformers-related explicit.

IDW - Spotlight Bumblebee

Title: The Question

Story by: John Barber

Art by: David Daza

Colors by: Zac Atkinson

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Editorial Assistant: Thomas Boeing

Plot

Bumblebee, Hot Spot and Groove are out looking for the Decepticons still hiding on Earth some where, but are getting nowhere, when they return to Omega Supreme Prowl isn't impressed, and orders Groove to join him on a mission to help him and Streetwise spy on Spike, ignoring Bumblebee's commands.

Bumblebee goes to talk to Thundercracker, who has no intentions of helping him, however during their discussions about a previous time they met, during the search for Metroplex they both realize that Megatron has somehow managed to copy Metroplex's space bridge technologies, and plans to use it to summon the Earth Decepticons to attack the Autobots. Thundercracker still wont help him stop the Decepticons from using this to overwhelm the Autobots, but he will give Bumblebee the data he collected on Metroplex in the past, so he can search for similar energy signatures.

Bumblebee visits his friend Sanjay Bharmaney and manages to locate the signature somewhere in America, Bumblebee heads out alone and finds the Decepticon army ready to receive Megatron's signal, Bumblebee goes to sabotage the Space Bridge but it activates and shows the Decepticons where he is. They get ready to tear him apart, but Starscream orders everyone but the Stunticons to enter the Bridge.

The Stunticons proceed to pummel Bumblebee (yay!) but Bumblebee jabs his cane into the Space Bridge's systems, making it overload and knocking out the Stunticons. Bumblebee later returns to Omega Supreme with the Stunticons in a net and starts taking charge properly and starts giving orders. Prowl's happy that Bumblebee has started acting like a real leader at long last.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Muscle Car

Prowl - Police Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Groove - Police Motorcycle

Hot Spot - Fire Engine

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Omega Supreme - Tank, Base and Rocket (Rocket in Space)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Motormaster - Truck Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Drag Strip - F1 Race Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Dead End - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Breakdown - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Wildrider - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Shockwave - Ray Gun

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Megatron - Stealth Bomber (Mentioned)

Other Decepticons

Human

Sanjay Bharmaney

Serena Bharmaney (Mentioned)

Spike Witwicky (Mentioned)

Other

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is set during the first part of Police Action, and during the Chaos event, showing what Bumblebee was doing during the storyline, which wasn't really shown in the earlier comics, and shows how the Decepticons got from Earth to Cybertron
• This story confirms that Megatron's (then) new body used some of Metroplex's design features to giving him Space Bridge generating properties
• Bumblebee gets the inspiration for his future electrical discharge cane here when he uses his can to overload the Space Bridge
• Dr Bharwaney from the Bumblebee Miniseries is renamed/misnamed here as Dr Bharmaney, and seems to have kept Bumblebee as his ally
• Starscream seems to have his Robots in Disguise body rather than his Earth body
• Due to the art style and coloring here I can't tell who all the background Decepticons are, so I won't even try

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....

IDW - Chaos: Police Action

"POLICE ACTION"

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Muscle Car

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Prowl - Police Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Groove - Police Motorcycle

Hot Spot - Fire Engine

Inferno - Fire Engine

Omega Supreme - Base and Rocket (Rocket segment off world)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Hologram via other team)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Huffer - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Perceptor - Cybertronian Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon
Swindle - SUV
Brawl - Tank Stasis Locked by Swindle's device
Breakdown - Lamborghini Gallardo Injured by Streetwise
Scrapper - Front End Loader (On Screen) Murdered by Spike in past
Megatron - Stealth Jet (Mentioned)
Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt (Mentioned)
Bludgeon - Cybertronian Tank (Mentioned)

Human
Spike Witwicky Gone AWOL
Kyle Pennington
Sandra
Ben Simpson (Facsimile) Destroyed by Skywatch personnel
Nina (News Anchor)
General Allenby
Spike's "Girlfriends"
General Witwicky (Mentioned)
John Powell (Mentioned) Killed by Jazz in past
Henderson (Skywatch)
Skywatch Personnel
Civilians
Sandra's Mother (on phone)
Sergeant Tim Simmons (Mentioned) Killed by Devastator in past

Storyline

Pennington is deputized by the Autobots left on Earth to help them investigate Spike (since they need a human to do some of the investigating). Later, Pennington is monitoring the news with Hot Spot and some others and see Ben Simpson continuing to bad-mouth them, even claiming that the Autobot shuttle (Omega Supreme) that left the planet before may be just waiting in orbit to start bombing them (despite them having been detected as leaving the solar system already). Hot Spot says they need better PR, which Pennington replies by joking that they should start some fires and have the Autobots save the day, which Hot Spot actually thinks is a good idea (leading to Pennington giving a worried look to Streetwise, and Inferno just slamming his face into his palm).
Spike approaches Prowl in his office and asks what he's doing about Simpson, who says he's doing nothing, since this is a free country. Spike then wonders what Prowl's been up to as they've been using a lot of resources for a secret investigation lately, which Prowl just explains that it's just an internal Cybertronian matter, Spike drops it and tells Prowl that he'll be out of contact for about 36 hours now as he has to do some clean-up after the Autobots had to destroy a military base when confronting Megatron (in Revenge of the Decepticons). Elsewhere in Omega Supreme, Bumblebee and Jazz are monitoring Prowl's conversation with Spike and trying to investigate him further, with Jazz being bored and feeling useless since he's been limited to no duties after he killed a human before, but isn't being charged with anything internally.
Jazz storms off after Bee dismisses him, and Prowl tells Bee that Pennington has some leads now, and that he plans to follow Spike to see what he's up to for 36 hours. After a while Prowl has followed Spike going to see several generals and also some of his "girlfriends" when suddenly Breakdown appears and attacks Spike in vehicle mode. Prowl, still in his police car guise goes after him, as does Spike. After a short and dangerous chase Breakdwon runs into Streetwise, who transforms and busts in his roof, badly hurting the Decepticon. Prowl orders Streetwise back into vehicle mode before a human sees them and they break their cover, he does so and the two Autobots get away before Spike arrives on the scene (with Breakdown escaping as well).
Later, at base Ultra Magnus moans at Prowl and Streetwise about how the mission was a failure an dhow Streetwise almost made the situation worse (as they would be exposed as having Autobots in police car guises, and thus infiltrating their law systems). Prowl says that they need to neutralize Simpson as well, but Magnus just says that Spike's the priority now.
Later on Prowl goes to the construction site where Scraper was murdered, which is now an office building and starts looking for any remaining clues, he manages to find some melted components of Scrapper's face under the floor in the building, so he extracts it, when suddenly the building starts to explode and begins to fall on top of him.

Prowl is rammed out of the way just before the rubble crushes him by Streetwise, who was following him, who then leaves to deal with Brawl, who was the one who attacked the building. Prowl think's it's wrong and looks to the side where he sees a silhouette of a robot in the distance, but before he can go to him to chase him he realizes that Streetwise has just gone off to fight a tank, so he goes to help his partner. With Prowl's help they manages to disable Brawl and use a suppressor device created by Wheeljack to trap him between his two modes, they drag him back to Omega Supreme.
Later Pennington finds Sandra, who's been in hiding since she betrayed Skywatch four months ago, and the two discuss what's happening over some coffee, and she continues to defend what she did by exposing Skywatch like she did. She tells Pennington that if he wants to get away from Spike and Skywatch then he can come find her again.
Back at base Prowl and Streetwise start interrogating Brawl, who insists that he's the only one involved in the attack, but Prowl knows he's lying, but before he can say anything else Brawl goes into stasis lock thanks to a devices in his head. Prowl calls Wheeljack, who is in Optimus Prime's team going to Cybertron and has him look at Brawl via hologram. Wheeljack explains that his inhibitor weapon isn't to blame, and that he was rigged to go into stasis lock at a certain time.
Sandra is picked up from her house in one of her new disguises to go see Ben Simpson by a pair of police officers as an escort, she goes with them, but soon realizes that they're Autobots (Streetwise and Groove) and that they're taking her to Skywatch, she doesn't fight it and just allows them to take her in. Sandra is taken into Omega Supreme, and is purposefully taken past Spike's office so he can see that she's there.
Sandra is taken to the interrogation room where Pennington says he's not happy about this, but it's necessary. Magnus and Bee approach the human and she starts defending herself, but Magnus just says he doesn't care about what she did, and he would have done the same in her place, and that they want to talk to her about Spike instead. Meanwhile Prowl is looking to the Scrapper remnants and discovers the remains of a compound designed to kill Cybertronians, which no Autobot or Decepticon would use as a weapon, meaning that it had to be a human, who intended to kill a Transformer.
Sandra explains to Magnus that Spike is an ego-maniac, and that all the power he's been given over the past few years since the Decepticon Invasion has gone to his head and made him arrogant, and that he believes that he's the star of an action film (mentality wise). Prowl can hear all of this through the surveillance footage, so he just approaches Prowl and admits to killing Scrapper.

Spike and Prowl debate the morality of Spike's actions, which Spike defends as being because Scrapper was dangerous as he helps to form Devastator, who killed many people in New York. Prowl says that he can't trust Spike anymore, not after learning that he's been lying to them since the start. Spike says that he's never trusted the Autobots, he likes some of them, but never trusted them. Prowl has to let him leave, as he can't really debate the morality of his actions, considering some of his own recent actions.
Bumblebee calls a meeting and says that Sandra has given up Ben Simpson's location and they're going in, with Skywatch, to detain him. The operation begins, with the Autobots acting as police escorts for Skywatch, but Simpson has one of the Megatron guns still, but appears to be disoriented. Outside the Autobots detect a signal, and Magnus is told to transform and deal with it. Inside his base, Simpson goes to shoot the Skywatch members with his gun, but they shoot him first, revealing him to be a Facsimile, which were thought to have been decommissioned a long time ago.
Outside, the Autobots go after the signal they detected, who is revealed to be Swindle, and Ultra Magnus quickly disables him, and arrests him after all this time. Swindle is taken to Omega Supreme and dragged through the corridors, which Spike sees, and gets worried. Swindle's taken to the interrogation room where he explains everything, about how he was Simpson's controller and was using him to ruin human-Autobot relations, and that he helped distribute the Megatron guns after they arrived and that he was the one who commanded Brawl and activated that stasis lock device on him. After a bit more pressing however Swindle reveals that  he's also had dealings with a human and gave him technology to help hunt down Transformers etc...SPIKE WITWICKY!
Prowl and Bumblebee go looking for Spike, but Omega reveals that Spike left an hour ago, meaning that he's gone AWOL, and that Pennington left the base with Jazz a while ago as well. Jazz and Pennington arrive at Skywatch's old base so Jazz can communicate with General Allenby, whilst recording and sending out the meeting to all major news networks at once so they can't cover it up, and explains what Spike did (including the deals with Swindle, who is a known war criminal) and that he's gone AWOL, and that someone higher up must have known about it too. Jazz tells Allenby that he's dissolving the alliance between the Autobots and Skywatch, and then uses an EMP to destroy all the data on the base's database.
Later, outside Jazz starts pouring oil and other explosive liquids around the base and tells Pennington that he believes that he's a good person and that he didn't know about Spike's actions, but he has to leave him and not take him back to Omega Supreme with him. Jazz sets the base alight and causes it to explode, destroying all evidence of their technology from there, and returns to Omega.
Later Prowl is in his office and learns of Jazz's work and actually agrees, and that Optimus must have as well, which is why he left only a few Autobots behind to wrap up loose ends.

Notes

• This story could be seen as a precursor to the upcoming More Than Meets the Eyes and Robots in Disguise series', where the cast are split across 2 different stories, with different casts in each one.
• You may be wondering why everyone is so bothered by Spike killing a Decepticon. Well the reason is because he went hunting for Scrapper in particular and brought a weapon designed to kill Cybertronians, and on top of that Scrapper was just hiding, he wasn't causing any problems for anyone. If Spike just happened to be out on his bike and Scrapper attacked him or something, then fine, but because he went out and planned to murder him, that's the reason for the problem.
• I doubt that it's a coincidence that most of the Autobots in Bumblebee's team here use emergency vehicles as their alternate modes
• Kyle Pennington is 34 years old
• The scene where Pennington jokingly suggests the Autobots cause incidents just to save the day from them, and Hot Spot actually liking the idea is both hilarious and frightening. (mostly due to Inferno's *face-palm* in the background)
• Breakdown's hatred of Spike is shown again here
• Streetwise and Prowl are teamed up again in this story, just like in the first issue of this ongoing
• Sandra has been hiding out and using disguises since she betrayed Skywatch in International Incident, this was months ago in this timeline
• Wheeljack's holographic cameo is most likely due to them not having any medics left on Earth, and them needing one
• Omega Supreme is in pain due to him being separated and split across 2 planets
• When alone, Ben Simpson is kind of a slob and lives in a very empty building. This is likely due to him being a Facsimile
• Talking of which, Swindle is shown to have acquired the Facsimile technology that was disregarded before All Hail Megatron
• Ben had one of the Megatron guns, it's not clear yet whether it was picked up and removed from Earth after this storyline.
• Swindle's vehicle mode, which is briefly seen here is likely based on his Animated counterpart's, and not his usual Jeep form
• It's revealed that the technology used to create the Skywatch Crash Suits and some of Skywatch's wepaons was sold to Spike by Swindle all along!
• Magnus is worried about the human's reactions if they learned that some Transformers had taken on police car modes
• Spike is basically insane, he think's he's the star of an action movie, and has now gone AWOL
• Jazz destroy's Skywatch's old base, and destroys all the data on Transformers they have, and officially severs ties with the humans, which Prowl actually agrees with. Jazz then sends out a message to all news broadcasters about his meeting with Allenby to get Skywatch disbanded before the Autobots leave
• The Data Slug with Ironfist's Aequitas data on it is seen a lot in this story, which shows that Prowl didn't destroy it. Spike also seems to know what's on it as he points to it when he's talking about how they've both done questionable things. Though of course it doesn't matter now if Prowl does destroy it, since it's been revealed since this story that Verity made a copy of the data anyway.

My Thoughts

Art
The art here is quite nice really, it has bold colours and lines, no major details that distract you, but enough for it to look nice

Story
This story nicely acts to wrap up several Earth-based stories, and does it in a very quick and entertaining way

Continuity
This is set after the Chaos Theory storyline, following the characters left on Earth
The Facsimiles haven't been seen since before the beginning of All Hall Megatron
Swindle collected Brawl from North Korea, it's not clear if he also brought the other Combaticons with him or not (and they are currently unaccounted for in the current comics)
Holoavatars are seen for the first time in massive use since before All Hail megatron
Skywatch's main base was destroyed by the Decepticons in The Revenge of the Decepticons arc
Some story points haven't been finished yet though, we have no idea what's happened to Jimmy Pink, the Facsimile plot from the first "season" of comics and some other small details
Scrapper was killed by Spike in the International Incident TPB

Other
Swindle's alternate mode is based on his Animated one
Streetwise and Prowl have similar vehicle modes, despite their robot modes looking so different
Spike is kind of ugly in this storyline....

"RIDE-ALONG"

Characters

Autobot
Prowl - Police Car
Optimus Prime - Truck
Hot Rod - Sports Car
Bumblebee - VW Beetle
Ratchet - Ambulance
Jetfire - Jet
Seaspray - Hovercraft
Windcharger - Sports Car
Brawn - SUV
Hound - Jeep
Sideswipe - Sports Car

Decepticon
Thrust - Jet (Mentioned) Killed by Cops

Human
Prowl's Human Partner
Civilians
Cops
Skywatch

Storyline

Prowl is hiding out in his police car mode as a beat cop's vehicle on Optimus Prime's orders, as he has been for about 8 months now. 2 Years ago, after Megatron's defeat Optimus and Prowl walk through a mostly destroyed New York where Optimus decides that they must help the humans to rebuild, in any way they can, but because of their fear now they'll have to do it in disguise.
Back in the present Prowl witnesses the humans at work, rebuilding the destroyed world and getting on with their lives, whilst back at base the Autobots are at each other's throats. On one of his rounds, Prowl has to stay silent whilst some angry cops and other humans execute Thrust in cold blood.
Prowl reports back to base, where more Autobots are arriving for asylum. Prowl is worried that the Humans are returning to the city now, so they might be discovered and killed like Thrust, which Optimus understands and says that they're planning to move to a new base soon anyway. Prowl is told that Bumblebee has been sent out for a mission to scout for a new base, which Prowl is annoyed with, because he was supposed to be in command of certain members of the team, like Brawn and Bumblebee.
Whilst on his rounds again Prowl is being driven around New York when some workers are moving a severed Transformer hand, with a blaster still in it, when it fires by accident thanks to one of the workers touching the trigger and blasts a building, causing it to collapse, Prowl sees a girl about to be crushed by it when he breaks cover and rams her out of the way and Prowl explains to his human cop driver that he couldn't keep on just letting bad things happen like he has been. The human respects that, despite him having been hiding as his car for 8 months, and he lets him escape before Skywatch arrives.
Later Prowl gets away, and the Autobots move to their cave base, after a while Prowl is exposed again trying to help Breakdown and gets attacked, later the Autobots and Skywatch join forces and the Autobots are allowed out on their own somewhat, and even helps out with some police work too.

Notes

• This is Spotlight Prowl, it's been packaged with Police Action because a) it had no where else to go and b) it seems appropriate enough
• The last couple of pages are just retelling events from For All Mankind basically.
• The Autobots were set up in an abandoned building before moving to their cave base
• Prowl hid amongst the humans as a police car for 8 months without breaking cover
• It's mentioned here that Thrust was killed by some cops in this Spotlight, however he was seen alive and being captured by Spike's team in the AHM coda
• This story was done to show why Prowl changed from a manipulator in the early comics to a sympathetic character in the early parts of the Ongoing...however his personality changed very soon after this comic was set as he sent off Ironfist to die in LSOTW just for data.
• There are about 10,000 Transformers alive now according to Prowl, however since this comic was originally released Galvatron has revived about a million Transformers for his army, and in The Death of Optimus Prime and the RID series it's revealed that there are thousands of non-aligned Transformers still alive as well, making his estimation a bit wrong....
• It's kind of odd that this issue was placed behind Police-Action in this TPB, and without any note about where in the series it's set, since it's set earlier in the series and shows characters in older character models etc

My Thoughts

Art
Very detailed, but expressive artwork, the colours are quite bold as well

Story
This story is just used to explain Prowl's out-of-character reaction to Breakdown's treatment in the first issue of the Ongoing. It does that well enough...

Continuity
This is set mostly between All Hail Megatron and For all Mankind