TFNation - Signal of Doom

Written by: Ralph Burns & Andrew Turnbull

Illustrated by: Nate Webb

Cover Art by: Ed Pirrie & Matt Marshall

Plot

This story is a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, so where the story would deviate to a bad ending, I'll mark it in parentheses, bold and italics (as such) Anything outside of these are the ideal storyline. Occasionally a bad route can be taken, but can be reversed to a good route, but I am just taking the most direct routes here.

Battle Unicorn (You) returns to Cybertron, but finds the planet under radio silence and with no life signs anywhere, until he receives an SOS from the planet.

(Battle Unicorn opens the SOS, and is directed to the Central Spaceport and decides to head there to investigate, however he finds a strange group of Cybertronians there, that he doesn't recognise, and before he can do anything he is ambushed and his spark is extracted)

Battle Unicorn hovers above the planet in his ship, and decide to land in Cybertropolis instead of the Central Spaceport, you see a group of Cybertronians you don't recognise, but smartly decide to leave them be

(You are foolish and approach the Cybertronians and get your spark extracted)

You walk towards the Central Spaceport to investigate the area from afar, but are surprised when a blinding light hits you and you plummet into a tunnel system, you see some lights down the tunnel, you ignore them, and head further into the darkness, where you encounter the Oracle itself, who tells you about Megatron conquering Cybertron and is calling wayward Cybertronians back to the planet with a fake distress signal to capture them too. The super computer gives you the option to help it...

(You decide to run away from the Oracle and proceed with you own mission to stop Megatron, but soon realise that you may have led the Drones to the Oracle's chamber, you return to save it, but you are instead captured, and you witness the Oracle being dismantled...)

You decide to accept help from the Oracle and are reformatted. You learn how to control your new form and are sent on a mission to destroy the Transmission Facility and proceed with you own mission to stop Megatron, and make it to the surface, you make your way to the Central Computer, where you link up to the computer to figure out where the Transmitter Facility is...

(You decide to stay hooked up for a while longer to determine what Megatron's plan really is, and you learn that he, after the Beast Wars on Earth returned to Cybertron and created his virus to conquer the world. Infuriated, you decide to go after Megatron at his fortress in Cybertropolis. He is, however, soon ambushed and is attacked by Jetstorm...ending his story there...)

You disconnect from the network and start to leave, you are attacked by a group of Tank Drones however...

(You go on the offensive and charge at them, but you are eventually caught by them, and are taken out)

You use your beast mode's seismic hooves to send the Vehicons flying and you run for your life, you see a load of Drones assembled

(You try sneaking past them, but they notice you and are captured and taken out by Jetstorm)

You go for higher ground to avoid the Vehicons, and are near the Tramsitter, but find a Transit Tube, that would get you to the Transmitter controls in record time

(You take the tube, but are ambushed by Jetstorm, who fires missiles at the prone vehicle, destroying it, and you along side it...)

You realise it would be foolish to take the Tube, so you enter the building and take the walkways instead, you follow the paths laid out for you, when you come across a small gap you can leap over

(You ignore the leap and continue down the pathway, but you made a mistake, and are taken out by a missile from Jetstorm)

You leap across the small gap, and continue doing that between buildings, until you start finding the gaps too far apart

(You return to the pathways, but are quickly dispatched by Jetstorm with a missile)

You make your way to the ground, and have eye-contact with the transmitter, you notice no Vehicons between you and the facility

(You rush out to the facility, but are quickly flanked upon, and taken out of commission)

You pause, and a Drone passes by you, not noticing you in the shadows, you dash towards the facility, where you see it is guarded by an army of drones.

(You try to sneak into the facility, but you trip the alarms and you are overcome with the Vehicons, who take you down, and extract your spark)

You transform and bellow out a threat to the drones, causing them to chase you

(You head to the transmitter controls, you enter the deactivation code, and it works and the transmission is stopped...however you realize that this was too simple, and the transmission can simply be reactivated, you should have gone to the power planet instead! With that, Jetstorm appears and take you out)

You diverge from the original plan and head to the power plant, you arrive and realize you don't have energy weapons any more..

(You try to overload the consoles, but cannot do so in time...Jetstorm arrives and takes you down)

You use you battle axe to smash the console apart and cause a chain reaction that causes the entire plant to go up. You resign yourself to you fate, when you are teleported to safety by the Oracle.

You have succeeded in this battle, but the war is not over and Megatron must still be defeated, and you will be hiding in the shadows until the day you can make your move....

Characters

Maximal

Battle Unicorn - Technorganic Unicorn (Killed/Spark Extracted by Vehicons - Bad Endings Only)

Vehicon

Jetstorm - Jet

Aero Drones - Jets

Tank Drones - Tanks

Cycle Drones - Motorcycles

Mole Drones

Megatron - Dragon (Mentioned)

Autobot

Sparkless Shells

Xaaron (Mentioned)

Admiral Rodney (Mentioned)

Other

The Oracle/Vector Sigma (Dismantled by Vehicons - Bad Endings Only)

Cybertronian Population (Mentioned) Sparks Captured by Megatron

Notes

• This is the TFNation 2019 exclusive fiction.
• This year we have a choose your own adventure style book, as such the plot synopsis will feature the "bad endings" as well as the "true ending"
• The timing of this story is unclear, but the presence of Jetstorm implies that this happens during the events of Season One of Beast Machines....but where are Optimus and his crew then? As soon as Botanica arrived on the planet they went out to try and save her!
• The branching options on page 9 make no sense. if you choose the "bad road" on page 19, you speak about how the Oracle is being dismantled and how you'll never learn of Megatron's secret plans....you haven't been informed of EITHER of those things in the story yet!
• On Page 11 to can decide to run away from the Oracle BEFORE you get reformatted on the next page, yet you are later referred to as Technorganic, and can complete the story from then on
• The comments about Battle Unicorn waiting in the shadows may be to explain why he never encounters Primal and his team...
• So...the Oracle can teleport at great distances? WHY DID IT NEVER DO THAT TO HELP THE MAIN CHARACTERS?!?!?
• Quite a few references are made in this story to things like "Pretenders", the "Multiforce" etc, but since context isn't ever given I'll only mention them in the character list if they are definitive names of characters etc

Panini - Armada #7

Cover Date: 5 Nov 2003

Price: £1.75

Main Story

Title: The Two-Edged Blade

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Bambos Georgiou

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

Starscream ambushes the Air Defence Team, and manages to take control of them by suppressing their personality chips, and forcing them to combine into the Star Sabre, so he can use it to usurp Megatron.

Elsewhere, the kids and Street Action Team are playing outside, when Starscream attacks them, intent on taking the Mini-Cons to help with his attempt at leadership. The Street Action Team combine into Perceptor and engage Starscream in battle, whilst the kids go for help.

Perceptor is able to hold off Starscream for a while, but is easily outmatched by the Decepticon. Before he can capture them though, the Star Sabre starts to over-load and causes a storm to rage. Optimus appears, having been summoned by the kids, and he explains that only the Air Defence Team can control the power of the sword, and has Starscream re-engage their personality chips, so he can reach them and have them separate.

Starscream retreats, leaving the Mini-Cons behind, and the good guys celebrate their victory, just as an elderly man appears behind them, ready to pass on a message....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Mini-Con

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

High Wire - BMX

Sureshock - Scooter

Grindor - Skateboard

Perceptor - Street Action Team Gestalt

Human

Rad White

Carlos Lopez

Alexis

Reverend Amos Hume

Tales of the Mini-Cons...

Title: Sale of the Century!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils and Inks: Lee Sullivan

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

At Area 54, the now closing ERTD are trying to make money from their assets, and are showing off the Land Military Team again, but (of course) they "malfunction" again and attack the humans.

Luckily, the Autobot arrive with the Air Defence Team, and manage to disable the ERTD devices inside the Land Military Team, freeing them from their control.

Shortly afterwards the new Mini-Cons are taken to the Autobot shuttle, where Wreckage is reunited with Amos Hume, who reveals that he kept his promise to give Wreckage''s message to his allies, and learned that it was a locator code, allowing the Autobots to find them.

In the aftermath, the Autobots leave, and the remaining ERTD members are left behind, waiting for the authorities to arrive and deal with them.

Characters

Autobot

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Mini-Con

Wreckage - Twin Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Bonecrusher - SCUD Missile Truck

Knock Out - Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

Human

Reverend Amos Hume

Rad White

Carlos Lopez

Alexis

Doctor Quint

Hathaway

ERTD Personnel

Military Buyers

Notes

• Again, despite this issue's cover, Megatron is no where to be seen...it is Starscream who goes after the Star Sabre.
• The Air Defence Team's combined mode has a colour scheme similar to the Dark Star Sabre, this also happened in Dreamwave too!
• When Starscream attacks the kids and their Mini-Cons, the Star Sabre is nowhere to be seen....was it hidden behind his back?
• Unlike in Dreamwave, the Street Action Team actually combine into Perceptor here! The team DO combine during the Dreamwave Energon comics, but that's using their Energon toy models of course.
• In the Land Military article, we see the team linked up to Megatron, this never happens in the comic, but they do join with them in the cartoon.
• The ERTD guys failed in controlling the Mini-Cons in 1959, and without any visible modifications they try it again in 2003.....
• The Air Defence Team appear to have joined the Autobots in the side story.
• Hot Shot is the Autobot who pilots the Mini-Cons to the others, he is also the Autobot who is allied to the Star Sabre in the cartoon
• This issue concludes both the Land Military and Air Defence Team storylines....we see neither group again!

Other Features

Various Contests and Adverts

Cyber Space! - Article on upcoming episodes and showcasing a website

Data File #13: Cyclonus

Red Alert's Clinic! - Learn what sort of a person you are...I'm type B according to this...

Star Sabre: The Ultimate Weapon! - Pull-out poster

Meet: The Land Military Team! - Article on the Mini-Con team

Data File #14: Crumplezone

Robo Dreams! - Decipher what character the Mini-Cons are thinking of.

Starscream's Hate Mail! - More mail!

Panini - Armada #5

Cover Date: 10 Sept 2003

Price: £1.75

Main Story

Title: Devices and Desires!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Bambos Georgiou

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

The Air Defence Team chase after a crashing satellite, but manage to curb it away from a populated area, and dump it into the ocean, however the team notice that the damage looks a bit unusual, and almost deliberate.

Before they can finish their thoughts, Starscream appears and begins attacking the team, and manages to plant a small device on Jetstorm, all whilst monologuing about how he plans to use them to bolster his own troops for a planned coup against Megatron.

The Autobots arrive. and Starscream is scared off. Despite their help however, the Mini-Cons still refuse to join the Autobots, as they don't want to be aligned to anyone. Optimus understands and promises to help them in the future if they ever need it.

None of them are aware that the device planted by Starscream is a tracking device, allowing him to follow the Mini-Cons wherever they go...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Red Alert - Emergency SUV

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Mini-Con

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

Tales of the Mini-Cons...

Title: We are not alone!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Keiron Ward

Inks: Lee Townsend

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

The Air Defence Team arrive at a NASA base, intending to steal/borrow some deep space technology to help them get off the planet and escape the war yet again. Before they can explore however, the team are attacked by some well-armed humans who knock them out.

A short while later, the Mini-Cons are taken to Area 54 where they are being examined by scientists. Once the scientists leave the Mini-Cons wake up and plot their escape. Jetstorm looks through the computers and finds out about some more Mini-Cons that were captured in the past.

The team leave, just as the humans return, but now have a new mission to complete before they can leave...find and rescue the Land Military Team.

Characters

Mini-Con

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

Wreckage - Twin Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier (Schematics Only)

Bonecrusher - SCUD Missile Truck (Schematics Only)

Knock Out - Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier (Schematics Only)

Human

ERTD Personnel

Scientists

Notes

• Fun little anecdote time! This was the FIRST Transformers comic that I ever bought (the others before this were recent buys from another collector). So you can blame this one for this blog :)
• The front cover of this comic lies! There are no scenes set in space! This is a trend that is continued throughout the series now....damn publishers trying to trick me into buying their silly magazines <.<
• This is the first time in this series that Starscream starts plotting against Megatron. It continues until the end of the series (but is never resolved)
• Jetstorm claims that the Air Defence TEAM aren't team players.....does anyone else notice the irony?
• The human soldiers in the side story are unnamed here, but future issues will name them as the ERTD (Extra-Terrestrial Response Division). The name's strange abbreviation is akin to RAAT from the Marvel days.
• Just because the ERTD have the Land Military Team in their custody, that shouldn't mean they know how the Air Defence Team work...they have totally different alternate modes, and are even outfitted to combine, unlike the others.

Other Features

Various Contests and Adverts

Secret I.D. Badges! - Destroy the comic to make some crappy paper badges (so that's where Titan got the idea!)

Data File #9: Starscream

Brain Drain! - Puzzles!

Terror in the Skies! - Pull-out poster of Starscream vs the Air Defence Team

Meet: The Air Defence Team! - Profile info for the team

Data File #10: Swindle

Hot Shot's Hot Mail! - Hot Shot reads the mail again

RID - Drift's Samurai Showdown

Plot

The Autobots are under attack by Decepticons in their scrapyard base...except they aren't....Bumblebee is testing his team with a Decepticon drill, and gets annoyed when Drift and his pupils don't even turn up. Drift turns up afterwards and comments on how the team can't work well together, and how he doesn't need one, as he has lasted for a long time on his own (ignoring his Mini-Cons). All of a sudden, Fixit alerts the team to a REAL Decepticon alert, and they go to get the information on it.

The Decepticon is under Crown City, so Grimlock has to stay behind, and Drift volunteers to remain as well after  learning who the Decepticon is (Forager, one of the Ronin). The Autobots quickly and easily manage to defeat Forager, and capture him, however when they return to the base, Forager reveals he was just faking being knocked out, and tries to escape...however he is again quickly put back to the stasis pod, but not before noticing Drift, and recognizing him as an old friend, leaving Drift to leave again, so as not to reveal his past to the team.

The next morning, the Autobots are trying to interrogate the Mini-Cons to find out Drift's secret, but they won't reveal anything. Russell takes over from the interrogation, by playing "tag" with the Mini-Cons and Sideswipe, making them a bit more relaxed, and they admit to not knowing his full history, but do reveal that he used to be named Deadlock, and was once a Decepticon before changing sides.

Bumblebee appears from behind them, outraged to learn this secret, he and Strongarm begin speculating that Drift might be a Decepticon spy, planning to work with Strongarm for his big plans, though Sideswipe points out that maybe Drift's Decepticon past is just in the past, like with Grimlock. Bee agrees to look into it further before making any judgements on his team-mate. Fixit then announces that multiple Decepticon signals have appeared.

Fixit can't identify the Decepticon signals as they appear to have scrambled their signals, but has located Drift driving towards them. The team are undecided on whether this means Drift is rendezvousing with his Decepticon allies, or heading to an ambush, so they go after him, they do however leave the Mini-Cons behind, just in case Drift is up to no good.

The Humans keep the Mini-Cons occupied whilst the Autobots race off to deal with Drift, one way or another when they find no Decepticons in the area they were detected, but some signal transmitters instead, giving fake signals, luring the team away from the base. Nearby however, two Decepticons have been watching the Autobots, and have collected images on them, which they use to create hologram disguises for themselves to use.

Soon, the fake Bumblebee and Grimlock return to the base, where they quickly capture Denny and Slipsteam and put them in a cage. Jetstorm and Russell manage to sneak away out of the scrapyard, and head the direction the Autobots went earlier, to try and intercept them.

Once gone, Fixit is forced to start releasing the Ronin captives, aka, just Forager, and he reveals that he saw Deadlock with the Autobots earlier when he was being frozen, despite him appearing to die back when they last saw him, they then decide to use an old holo image of Deadlock to their advantage later, in case the Autobots return.

The Autobots soon arrive, and fall for the Drift holograms, making them believe that Drift is in fact aligned with the Ronin still, and they are trapped inside some empty Stasis Cells.

In the woods, Jetstorm and Russell run into Drift, who they don't trust any more. Drift explains to them his back-story, where he was recruited by Megatron into the Decepticons when it was just a revolutionary, non-violent group, but it soon changed into a terrorist group. He was later badly injured in battle, but rescued by the Circle of Light. When the war reached the Circle as well. Drift became as Ronin, a group of Bounty Hunters, however on their last mission together, Foxtrot wanted to cause an explosion that would have killed the local lifeforms in the system, so Drift faked an explosion, and his death to save them. He then later joined the Autobots as Drift.

Drift suggests that the only way for them to rescue the others is to deceive the Ronin....

Drift, Jetstorm and Russell return to the scrapyard, where they meet with a fake Grimlock, whom Drift quickly identifies as Stilts. After a quick exchange, Drift "betrays" his comrades and captures them, taking them further into the base with Stilts, and puts them in the cage with Denny and Slipstream.

Foxtrot and the others are reluctant to trust Drift at first, but soon decide it's great to have the team all back together, and Foxtrot reveals his plan is to sell the Decepticon prisoners to the Autobots, and vice-versa to make a major profit. Drift and the Ronin leave to collect some Energon to help them power the locators, whilst the Mini-Cons and Humans begin to wonder if Drift is actually on their side or not...

The Ronin and Drift arrive at a factory in Crown City where they find a pile of Energon, left by the previous Decepticon occupants. Whilst there, a human security guard appears, and Drift pretends to kill him by causing a roof cave-in, but he purposely makes sure it misses the human.

The Ronin return to the base, and plan to "recycle" the Mini-Cons and Humans, when Drift starts to torment them by throwing a shuriken at the captives. However, unknown to the Ronin, Drift placed a message on the shuriken and slashed the bars, allowing them to escape, they head to the Stasis Cells, and release the Autobots.

The Autobots are ready to turn on Drift for his betrayal, but the Humans and Mini-Cons stop them, and explain what's happened. very soon, the Autobots attack the Ronin, and Drift reveals his true colours and turns on the Ronin as well, helping the Autobots to capture them all. Bumblebee and the others apologize for not trusting Drift, and he apologizes for not trusting them with his secret earlier, and everyone is happy...until no doubt someone else's dark past is uncovered...who bets Strongarm is a Predacon in disguise or something?

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Drift - Race Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Slipstream - Pod

Jetstorm - Pod

Fixit

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Forager - Dirt Buggy Captured by Autobots

Foxtrot - Sports Car Captured by Autobots

Stilts - Jet Plane Captured by Autobots

Deadlock (Mentioned) Now Drift

Steeljaw - Van (Mentioned)

Megatron - Jet (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Officer Wong

Other

The Circle of Light (Mentioned)

Notes

• Drift's back-story and old name are based on his IDW counterpart.
• Though unlike his IDW counterpart, THIS Drift was never really evil, or a killer...just confused at a younger age...
• This story appears to be set just after Drift's joining of the team in the TV series
• The Grimlock impression makes Stilts sound like G1 Grimlock rather than RID.

IDW - Animated: The Arrival

Dispatches

Plot

Optimus and his team manage to defeat Megatron and keep the Matrix away from him by launching him out an airlock, causing him to burn up in orbit. Elsewhere the Auotbots and Decepticons all mourn their losses, and Isaac Sumdac finds Megatron's old head in a field.

At a later date, the Autobots have woken up, and save Detroit from a Nano-bot monster that was created by accident and become heroes and later become friends with the humans. Starscream picks up on footage of thise from his ship when Black Arachnia appears and they fight, leading to the Nemesis's crash on the Earth's moon. Black Arachnia however places a tracer on Starscream's back, so she can follow him to the Allspark's location (as he's found it).

The Autobots move into and old factory and during a ceremony, Starscream arrives and attacks them, leading to a fight between them for possession of the Allspark, which Optimus wins.

The activation of the Allspark alerts the Transformers elsewhere in the universe to the Allspark's location, and they start heading there.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab (Former Cybertronian Truck Cab)
Bumblebee - Hatchback (Former Cybertronian Car)
Ratchet - Ambulance (Former Cybertronian Treaded Vehicle)
Prowl - Police Motorcycle (Former Cybertronian Motorcycle)
Bulkhead - SWAT Van (Former Cybertronian Bulldozer)
Ultra Magnus - Cybertronian Truck
Jazz - Cybertronian Car
Sentinel Prime - Cybertronian Plough
Longarm - Cybertronian Crane
Blurr - Cybertronian Race Car
Other Autobots

Decepticon

Megatron - Cybertronian Jet Reduced to a Head

Blitzwing

Lugnut

Black Arachnia - Spider

Starscream - Harrier Jet

Other Decepticons

Human

Sari Sumdac

Isaac Sumdac

Captain Fanzone

Mayor Edsel

Detroit Civilians

Other

Sparkplug

Notes

• This is set during the opening movie of Transformers Animated, showing the events from other perspectives
• Blurr is seen in this comic in various places, but usually from behind
• Sentinel and Longarm's insignia's were switched in this comic, Sentinel should have the Elite Guard one, and Longarm shouldn't have it
• Also it's implie din this comic that Sentinel fought in the great wars as well, even though he's too young, like Opitmus.
• The Nemesis crashes on Earth's moon because Starscream and Black Arachnia fought on it and caused it to crash, also Black Arachnia knows where Earth is because She placed a tracer on Starscream's back. It's shown how she reached the planet in a later issue.
• It seems that the Elite Guard picked up the Allspark's signal in this issue, but it takes them much longer to arrive on Earth than the Decepticons take.

Attention Surplus Disorder

Plot

Bumblebee and Prowl accidentally reveal that local super hero, The Wraith is a phony and uses holograms to fight crime, and he vows revenge on the Autobots. He tricks Bumblebee into ending up in a wheel clamp, and then uses his holograms to look like the Autobot and at.tack innocent people. Eventually Bumblebee gets free and exposes this, along with the other Autobots.

The Wraith ends up in a mental hospital.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Ratchet - Ambulance

Prowl - Police Motorcycle

Bulkhead - SWAT Van

Human

The Wraith

Angry Archer

Colossus Rhodes

Detroit Residents

Notes

• It seems that car wheel clamps can stop a Transformer from transforming...at least for a while...

Whatever Happened to Whatisname?

Plot

Starscream wakes up after the fight with Optimus in Detroit low on power when Professor Princess appears and helps to "fix" him by making him look more pretty. Starscream gets angry and Princess attacks him with her energy weapons, which repowers him, and he gets ready to kill her, when she shows him a recordng of him looking pretty, and says she'll send it to everyone (maybe even reaching th Decepticons). Starscream decides to leave, not knowing he still have some pretty pictures on his back.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab (Flashback)

Decepticon

Starscream - Harrier Jet

Human

Professor Princess

Other

Powdered Sugar

Notes

• HA! Starscream in his prety colours is funny!
• Powdered Sugar seems to be somewhat sentient, as when Screamer grabs it, it's eyes go very wide and frightened

Stilletto

Plot

One of the Sumdac labs is ranacked by Stiletto, who has stolen and metal that can basically cut through anything, and goes on the run.

The Autobots chase her but manage to stop her on a bridge before she can do too much damage.

It's revealed after the fact that Megatron hired Stiletto to test out the metal on the bridge for him to use for his  new sword when he gets a body back.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab
Bumblebee - Hatchback
Ratchet - Ambulance
Prowl - Police Motorcycle
Bulkhead - SWAT Van

Decepticon

Megatron (Head only)

Human

Isaac Sumdac

Captain Fanzone

Stiletto

Detroit Police

Notes

• Despite being the (mis-spelt) titular character, Stiletto doesn't actually talk
• Stiletto's heels are made of the same metal later used for Megatron's swords
• The bike Stiletto steals seems to be based on Movie Arcee

'Bots of Science

Plot

Ratchet is sent into a warzone where everyone is dead, thanks to an outbreak of Cosmic Rust. He finds a Decepticons survivor, Oil Slick, who helps him design an anti-dote, which saves Oil Slick's life, however Oil Slick thanks him by infecting him and well and drives away at full speed.

Rtachet manages to use his electromagnetic abilities to grab the antidote again and cures himself, and drives back home with it for future use.

Characters

Autobot

Ratchet - Cybertronian Treaded Vehicle

Ultra Magnus (Voice)

Decepticon

Oil Slick - Cybertronian Motorcycle

Other

Dead Guys Killed by Cosmic Rust

Notes

• This comic was later adapted into another book for an even younger audience, and featured many recognizable cameos
• This comic also introduces Cosmic Rust and Oil Slick into the Animated continuity, both would later appear in Transwarped. This comic also shows that there is a cure to Cosmic Rust, so fans of Rodimus should be happier about that appearance.

The Insincerest Form of Flattery

Plot

Porter C. Powell starts rebranding some vehicles based on Bulkhead's vehicle mode as "The bulkhead" and makes them very popular, much to Bulkhead's annoyance. Later when chasing Angry Archer and Professor Princess he discovers that the vehicles are really dangerous and explode with very little cause.

Powell sets up a contest where people customize theit vehicles, which Sari and Bulkhead enter in disguise, and kidnap Powell, forcing him to reveal the faults in the engines on live TV, forcing him to end this line of vehicles.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab
Bumblebee - Hatchback
Ratchet - Ambulance
Prowl - Police Motorcycle
Bulkhead - SWAT Van

Human

Sari Sumdac

Porter C. Powell

Angry Archer

Professor Princess

Carly

Spike

Daniel

Civilians

Other

Powdered Sugar

Notes

• This comic shows a lot of possible repaints of Bulkhead
• A nice little added piece in this comic is that when Bulkhead transforms from his repainted vehicle mode, the paint is still on his robot mode (which is something that sometimes gets forgotten in comics.
• I wonder is his paint job was thanks to Electronic Paint, or just normal?

A Few Loose Strands

Plot

Lockdown arrives on the Moon at the Nemesis' wreckage and starts looking for more clues about where Optimus is (as he's been hired to find the one who destroyed Megatron) and he finds Black Arachnia, and the two fight it out, resulting in Black Arachnia winning.

Lockdown later wakes up and finds the fem-bot gone, but decies to ignore it and ehads to Earth, takes on an alternate mode and goes to hunt Optimus down. Black Arachnia leaves the ship and goes into the city herself as well, looking forward to seeing Opitmus once again.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime (On Screen)

Bumblebee (On Screen)

Ratchet (On Screen)

Bulkhead (On Screen)

Decepticon

Black Arachnia - Spider

Blitzwing (Flashback)

Lugnut (Flashback)

Oilslick - Cybertronian Motorcycle (Flashback)

Megatron (Mentioned)

Starscream (Mentioned)

Other

Lockdown - Muscle Car

Notes

• This issue shows Lockdown and Black Arachnia arriving on Earth, in time for their appearances in the series.
• The Nemesis computer shows the Ark's crew as missing Prowl, this is appropriate because he joined the crew AFTER the mission began and was just a tag-along.
• Black Arachnia absorbs a load of Lockdown's upgrades, and it hurts her

Survival Skills

Plot

Optimus is in a simulated environment on a test and fights Megatron, the Decepticon in the end wins, but Ultra Magnus congratulates the cadet on his good work.

Characters

Autobot

Ultra Magnus - Cybertronian Truck

Optimus - Cybertronian Truck Cab

Elita - Cybertronian Car

Sentinel - Cybertronian Plough

Decepticon

Megatron - Cybertronian Jet (Virtual)

Notes

• Most of this issue is set in a virtual reality setting

Everything Must Go

Plot

Blitzwing is contacted by Lockdown, who has captured Opitmus Prime, and Lugnut gets angry that his partner hired a bounty hunter, despite their lack of honour. The two of them keep having all out battles, with Swindle arriving and outfitting both of them with over-the-top weapons to keep fighting. In the end the two realize that Swindle is just escalating their fighting for a profit, so they turn on him, and leave him in a crumpled mess on the floor.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck Cab (On Screen)

Decepticon

Blitzwing

Lugnut

Swindle

Megatron (Mentioned)

Other

Lockdown - Muscle Car (On Screen)

Notes

• This issue introduces Swindle long before he'd appear in the TV series (continuity wise)
• Swindle has many, many weapons that he sells to the two Decepticons, many seem to be based on previous weapons in the franchise
• This issue shows the other side of the conversation seen in Thrill of the Hunt between Blitzwing and Lockdown over the communicator

First (and Second) in Flight

Plot

The Autobot Elite Guard have captured Starscream and take scans, however Starscream escapes shortly. The guard then begin a new prject to create Auotbots with flight capabilities. They take in the almost dead bodies of two twins, who are refitted with the flight capabilities they scanned from Starscream.

The twins are taken through traing, where they quickly become arrogant, but with due reason to be.They run out of training exercizes, so Perceptor designs a virtual exercize using Starscream's data to create a virtual enemy for them, however the program starts to take over the program, which begins to overload.

In the "game" the twins learn how to use their elemental abilities and even how to combine into Safeguard as well, and defeat the programs, freeing themselves.

After they finish they are promoted into the Elite Guard and sent with Sentinel and Jazz to Earth to hunt down the fugitive Wasp.

Characters

Autobot

Jetfire - Jet

Jetstorm - Jet

Safeguard - Gestalt Jet

Ultra Magnus - Rocket Truck

Jazz - Sports Car

Sentinel Prime - Snow Plough

Perceptor - Cybertronian Mobile Lab

Wheeljack - Cybertronian Race Car

Red Alert - Cybertronian Race Car

Horsepower - Cybertronian Motorcycle

Sparkride - Cybertronian Motorcycle

Pre-Jet Twins - Cars Rebuilt as Jetfire and Jetstorm

Other Autobots

Decepticon

Starscream - Harrier Jet

Starscream Program - Harrier Jet Destroyed by Jet Twins

Other

Wasp - Cybertronian Car

Notes

• This story shows how the Elite Guard used Starscream's data to create Jetfire and Jetstorm from two "dead" Autobots, and also shows their whole accelerated training, and their mission of hunting Wasp down begins
• This was originally sold only with the Safeguard toy set, but was included in this comic TPB
• Sentinel wanted to call both the twins "Jetfire" originally, but this mistake was pointed out to him by Jetfire himself.