RID - Autobot World Tour

Plot

The Autobot Away Team are chasing the bug-like Shocksprocket, but following being shocked by their target's electricity, Sideswipe realizes that Earth's trees don't conduct electricity and uses a branch to smack the Decepticon unconscious.

Optimus contacts the scrapyard and asks Fixit to send a stasis pod or them to capture Shocksprocket inside, but before they end the call, Fixit informs the team that their next Decepticon target is on Mount Everest.

Russell, along with Fixit explains that he saw a Decepticon, which was mistaken for a yeti on a film documentary on Everest, whilst the Autobots aren't convinced about the proof, but agree to go.

Fixit identifies the Decepticon as "Abominus". Windblade recognizes the name as a Decepticon that she captured in the past on Cybertron, and remarks that he's a hermit that protects his "property" with dangerous weaponry.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee's team of Autobots approach a newly detected stasis pod, near to the scrapyard. When they find it, they find the Decepticon seemingly deactivated, and are worried that he died in the crash, until he wakes up and uses his optical abilities to hypnotize the Autobots into not wanting to fight him, before they fall asleep....

Optimus' team arrive by Groound bridge at the base of Mount Everest in their artic camo to help with hiding from the film crew on the mountain. The team slowly climb the mountain, but don't find it too difficultm, until Drift is almost shot by a hidden blaster, he manages to avoid it and destroy the turret. Windblade recognizes it as Abominus' work, and theorizes that he's booby-trapped most of the weapon in the same way.

Back at the Scrapyard, Russell is watching the program, where he sees that the Autobots were caught on camera, but have also been mistaken for yetis, and the explosions from the booby-traps are mistaken for a yeti celebration.

Russell tells Fixit to contact Optimus' team to warn him about the humans being nearby, but Fixit tells him that he can't get a clear signal through the atmosphere in the area. Russell asks how the film crew are able to do so, and Fixit guesses that it's due to hi using relays on the mountain, but he cannot hack into them to use it for communication without being exposed

On the mountain, the film crew are concerned that they will lose their contract with their station if they don't get any good footage for the show, before heading up further.

Elsewhere on the mountain, the Autobots continue their trek, avoiding the turrets etc along the way, however, along the way they accidentally set off a small avalanche, the team manage to brave the avalanche, but Slipstream is separated from the rest of the group....

Bumblebee's team wake up from their "attack" from the Decepticon Brakepad, but feel different than usual, and feel "lazy", they return to the scrapyard, where the Humans and Fixit worry about their conditions. Fixit learns from them that the Decepticon's name was Brakepad, which worries him.

Fixit brings up Brakepad's dossier and reveals that he used his optical powers to render the security forces lazy and unwilling to stop him whilst he stole whatever he wanted. Russell comes up with a plan, knowing that Brakepad isn't too physically strong, and requires the targets to have eye contact with him for the powers to activate...

Back on the mountain, the team are worried about Slipstream, but Drift points out that he has been trained to figure out a situation like this himself,,.and would agree that the mission is more important that just his safety. The team don't like abandoning him, but agree wit Drift's decision nonetheless.

Elsewhere on the mountain, Slipstream wakes up and worries about being alone, but soon remembers his teachings and evaluates the situation. He deduces that the team must have continued with their mission, so if he keeps heading to the summit he'll eventually find them. Slipstream then finds the Human film crew and hides from them, deciding that hhis current mission is to make sure they don't find the Autobots, or get killed by the hidden booby-traps set by Abominus.

Back home, the Autobots have been forced by Russell and Denny to take them back to the stasis pod's location, where they assume Brakepad to be still (due to his notorious slowness). The Humans trick the Autobots into believing that Brakepad's powers will make the Autobots have to do some hard work.

Before Brakepad can use his powers on them, the Humans put some over-sized sunglasses on Bumblebee and Strongarm (Grimlock is meanwhile sleeping). By doing this, they stop the ability from affecting the Autobots, Grimlock is coerced into knocking the stasis pod into Brakepad, leading him to fall in, and get locked in.

Russell is glad, but wonders how he will convince the Autobots into bringing the stasis pod back to the scrapyard for them...

On the mountain, Slipstream leads ahead of the Humans, and takes out the weaponry, protecting the Humans in secret, he reaches a fork in the path, and causes a small landslide to block the path leading more directly up, allowing him to abandon the Humans and go towards his allies.

On the other side of the summit, the Autobotss find a door, which they assume is Abominus' lair, but are worried that they haven't found any more traps lately. When they enter the lair however they quickly trigger a spike trap, attacking them from the walls. They manage to evade them, but find Abominus at the end, who simply sends them into an electrified cage.

With them trapped, Abominus reveals his master plan to cause a massive avalanche with explosives to get rid of all the "intruders" on "his" mountain, so he can be aloe with himself and his weapons.

Soon, Slipstream finds his way to the lair whilst Abominus is out placing some more explosives. Slipstream reunites with his team and disables the cage. The Autobots make a plan...

Before long, Abominus returns to his lair where he sees some footage of Slipstream in the tunnel, so he goes to attack him in their, unfortunately for him though, this was just a looped video, and he has been lured into the tunnel for his own booby-traps to be used on him instead.

After he has been injured enough by the traps, Abominus is placed in a stasis pod, but the Autobots discover that the film crew have found the entrance to the lair. The Autobots are worried, but Sideswipe has a plan...

Back at the scrapyard, the Autobots are almost returned to normal from their battle with Brakepad. Russell is watching the film crew's live program again, where he hears some audio footage the crew got from the mountain of the "yeti" shouting at the crew to leave and never return. Russell recognizes the voice as Sideswipe's

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Drift - Race Car

Slipstream - Buzzsaw Deployer

Jetstorm - Buzzsaw Deployer

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Bumblebee - Muscle Car

Strongarm - Police Cruiser

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Decepticon

Abominus Captured by Away Team

Shocksprocket Captured by Away Team

Brakepad Captured by Bee Team

Human

Russell Clay

Denny Clay

Loren Fortean, the Presenter

Ernie, the Cameraman

Brigadier Wilson, the Mountain Guide

Notes

• This story is the first to be set in Season Two, set some time after the team are forced to split apart in the series premiere.
• This story implies that the "Away Team" was a purposeful thing, and not just caused by a Ground bridge accident. Whilst this COULD be the reason for why the team took so long to return to the base, as they just took this as an opportunity for more captures....but it seems a bit of a stretch to me....
• The Away Team are shown to have their artic camo modes here, and we already know about their desert camo from the cartoon, so did they have a "jungle camo" for the opening scenes too?
• An electricity sparking Insecticon that isn't Shrapnel? I call shenanigans!
• I mean it's not like they're worried about possibly reusing names from other characters in the Aligned continuity, one of the other Decepticons in this issue is called Abominus!
• Russell's old favourite program, "My Miniature Mustang" is of course a riff on Hasbro's popular "My Little Pony" franchise. Whilst probably a coincidence, the name also evokes the IDW group "Triple M"...but I can't see a connection other than the acronym.
• I don't know how seasons and episodes of a program livestreamed in small segments works.....

RID - The Trials of Optimus Prime

Plot

Optimus leads Bumblebee's team into battle against some Decepticons, but end up being helplessly outnumbered and outgunned, causing the entire team to be killed.

Micronus ends the simulated battle, and gloats that Optimus isn't as ready as he had hoped, Micronus heals Optimus' false wounds. Optimus begs to be allowed to return to Earth so he can aid Bumblebee in his mission, and prepare for the upcoming trouble there. Micronus is hesitant but goes to ask the other Primes for their opinions. Once with the others, the Primes flat out refuse, but one of them, Liege Maximo, begins to mock how useless and weak Optimus seems to be, then quietly decides to "help" Optimus with his training too.

Micronus gives Optimus the bad news, but Optimus is still insistent. Micronus simply sets up another test, and creates a recreation of and Earth city, and has Optimus protect some holographic humans from some attacking Decepticons. Whilst Optimus deals with three of the Decepticons, Maximo suddenly enters the simulation, and hides, taking control of the last Decepticon, to make it a lot more powerful.

Optimus is able to defeat the powerful robot, but Micronus is concerned, as he is certain he didn't conjure up something that dangerous for Optimus to fight with. Maximo seems happy that he's messed with the training unnoticed, and plots to cause more mischief.

Micronus opens a portal to Earth for Optimus to watch Bumblebee's team through for a break, whilst he goes to investigate something by himself.

On Earth, the Autobots are playing a football game with Russell, whilst Bumblebee is in the command centre doing some work.

Optimus is happy after seeing his friends again, but it is cut short when Micronus returns and closes the portal. Micronus asks Optimus to go get recharged, whilst he prepares for the next training exercises. However Maximo has been secretly watching them and decides to play with Bumblebee as well...

Back on Earth Liege Maximo sends Bumblebee a fake image of Optimus, and using that image, tells Bumblebee that he has had a change of heart, and has now joined the Decepticons, and that he's coming to attack the Autobots soon. Bumblebee is disturbed, and thinks about how to tell the rest of the team, but Fixit suddenly declares that another Decepticon has appeared on his sensors, Stinkbomb, who is a demolitions expert.

The Autobots head out to Crown City Bridge, where Stinkbomb was detected where they engage the Decepticon, however Bumblebee is distracted when "Optimus" appears in the water beneath them and continues taunting Bumblebee with him switching sides. Sideswipe pushes Bee out of the way as Stinkbomb throws a bomb at him, but ends up being badly injured in the process, unnerving Bumblebee that it was because of him.

Stinkbomb sets off his tail-bomb which allows him to escape, whilst the Autobots try to prevent damage, and get the injured Sideswipe to safety. They head back to the Scrapyard for repairs without their target.

In the Realm of the Primes, Maximo closes his portal to Bumblebee and turns his attention back to Optimus. He finds the Autobot meditating with Micronus, and decides to strike, sending in several small attack-bots to hit him, with Optimus assuming this is a test to keep himself aware at all times. Micronus levitates both of them, and reveals that he didn't create those holograms, and someone else is messing with him, he creates a pyramid for Optimus to wait on top of, whilst he goes to talk to the other Primes about the situation.

Back on Earth, Sideswipe is taken to Fixit for repairs, and Bumblebee seems distracted still. The team grow worried, and due to his lapses in judgement lately and strange attitude, Fixit thinks their leader is suffering with brain rust.

Micronus meets with the other Primes, where he learns that they haven't attacked Optimus, and they then realize that Maximo is missing...

Elsewhere in the realm, Maximo goes after Optimus again, and creates a copy of Bumblebee, but turned evil, and claims that he's there because Earth was destroyed and he was sent to the realm as punishment of some sort. "Bumblebee" attacks Optimus, Optimus is able to defeat the copy, believing it to be a test of Micronus' again. Micronus then returns and tells Optimus that he didn't create the Bumblebee clone, but he thinks Maximo did.

Maximo is annoyed that Micronus is messing with his new "toy" and decides to "play" with Bumblebee again instead.

Bumblebee thinks he's located Stinkbomb on the scanners again, but it turns out to be Maximo's Optimus clone's eyes playing a trick on him. "Optimus" continues with his declarations of evil, but Bee is starting to believe this is all just a trick as well. Bee attempts to destroy the scanner to stop the imposter's messages, but the others stop him, and confront him about his "brain rust" but Bee convinces them that he's fine, and that someone has been sending him fake messages from Optimus. Despite how it sounds, the team respects Bumblebee and believes his story, just in time for them to go after Stinkbomb again.

In the Realm of the Primes, Maximo has a tantrum about how boring the Autobots are. He conjures up a small army of attack-bots, and plans to send them to attack Bumblebee and the others.

Elsewhere, Micronus explains who Maximo is to Optimus, and how despite not really being evil, he is mischievous and will cause problems if he can. Optimus notes that the fake Bumblebee seemed to give up when he didn't believe he was real, which makes Micronus believe he has a chance against Maximo's efforts after all. 

On Earth, Bee and the others locate Stinkbomb refuelling himself, and building a new tail-bomb, during the battle however, Bumblebee notices Optimus looking at him evilly again.

Maximo is ready to mess with Bumblebee again, but is suddenly interrupted by Micronus, who confronts his attacks on Optimus and Bumblebee. He tells Maximo to stop with his games, but Maximo ignores him, and continues with his game with Bee.

The Optimus clone on Earth begins screaming at Bee, which catches the notice of everyone in the group, confirming for everyone that Bee hasn't just been seeing and hearing things. The group manage to defeat Stinkbomb, and capture him, essentially ignoring the copy of Optimus, and ruining his schemes.

Back in the realm, Optimus is encountered by "evil" versions of all of Bumblebee's team, claiming that he's failed them again, but he realizes straight away that it's just Maximo's tricks again, and easily destroys them.

Following their defeats, Maximo goes off him a tantrum again, moaning about how unfair it all is. Micronus reappears before Optimus and commends him for his defeat of Maximo, and promises that he will be punished by the other Primes accordingly. He also reveals that Maximo has been messing around with Bumblebee as well, but he managed to fend off the attacks too. He opens a portal so Optimus can tell Bumblebee what was happening.

Back on Earth again Sideswipe has woken up, and everyone is gathered around him. Optimus communicates with them, and assures them that this isn't a trick this time, and the two thank each other for not being deluded by their attackers. Optimus promises to be joining Bumblebee on Earth just as soon as he can, once his trials are over, so they can really be a team again, like the old days...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Semi Truck

Bumblebee - Compact Coupe

Strongarm - Police Cruiser

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Drift - Race Car (Mentioned)

Jetstorm - Buzzsaw Deployer (Mentioned)

Slipstream - Buzzsaw Deployer (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Stinkbomb Captured by Team Bee

Megatron - Jet (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Micronus Prime

Liege Maximo

"Deep Voice" Prime

The Other Primes

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Other

Holograms and Illusions

Primus (Mentioned)

Unicron (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story shows a couple more of Optimus' trials in the realm of the Primes, which is what he spent most of season one doing.
• This story also shows that Optimus is able to communicate with Bumblebee and the others by utilizing portals in the realm of the Primes. It also shows that other Primes are able to do so too.
• Liege Maximo is shown to be one of the Primes in the realm. None of the others (bar Micronus) are identified, but Solus is mentioned in an expressive form, implying that she isn't there for some reason. It's a bit confusing since the last we saw them, Optimus, Maximo and Micronus were all dead and were sent here...so why wasn't Solus?
• The only other one of the Primes described here is mentioned as having a deep voice, this could honestly be any of them, but I would guess either Vector Prime or Prima due to him seemingly having the final say on decisions.
• Liege Maximo is shown to be able to manipulate his horns to create hard-light holograms or illusions, much like the character he's loosely based on, Loki from Marvel comics.
• The main difference between Micronus' holograms and Maximo's seems to be that Maximo's can actually cause physical damage to others, whilst Micronus' are just cosmetic.
• Micronus' attitude towards not trusting Maximo is more than likely due to him manipulating Megatronus into killing Solus Prime back in the early years of their existence .
• Micronus hints that Optimus may be learning some things from the other Primes as well as him before he leaves the realm, but we haven't been shown that to any extent in the cartoon or comics yet.
• Despite him creating a small army and planning to attack Bee's team on Earth, Maximo appears to give up on the idea before the end of the book.

Sig-Pub - Transformers Robots in Disguise #2 (ish)

Features

• So yeah...this magazine is missing something....aka a UNIQUE COMIC STRIP! So this will be a very short entry here.
• The reprinted comic here is issue 1 of the IDW Robots in Disguise comic
• The exclusive scan shield inside this magazine gives you 240 Energon Cubes...I guess that COULD make up for the lack of actual content!
• The magazine tempts you to mutilate the covers to give you some cheap Bumblebee and Optimus masks.
• The Fact File this month is for Grimlock
• There are other features in this issue, but it's just slight variations from the previous issue, so there's no point in mentioning them again here, especially due to the lack of other content.
• The next issue is out December 18th...let's hope it's better than this one!
• To be fair though, I guess this is a substitute for people who don't haver comic stores to buy the IDW RID comics...but that's bound to be a small audience!

IDW - Robots in Disguise Animated #4

Written by: Georgia Ball

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Plot

Bumblebee and Magnus' teams of Autobots return to the Scrapyard, where Bee has Magnus explain everything that's been going on. Magnus says that they've been looking for the leader of the Cybercomrade Sect, Overhead, and he couldn't be sure if he could trust Bee's new team, since about half of them are criminals, however Bee responds by pointing out that his hiding the information has endangered the entire population of the Earth. Magnuis agrees, and joins forces with Bee.

The teams start to plan out how to stop Overhead, and her crew, from building a Spacebridge to escape Earth. However unknown to the Autobots, Overhead actually plans to stay on Earth, strip it of it's resources and conquer it, but she needs the bridge to bring the rest of the Sect to Earth!

At the Scrapyard, Clipshade tries to train Sideswipe to act like a Decepticon to get him inside the Sect for their last attack on them since they haven't seen him before, but Sideswipe is a terrible actor, so it's not going well. Fixit manages to locate Skullcruncher and Razorgrille's signals, so they know where Overhead would likely be, as they are known members of the Sect.

The team locate the two lackies, and Skullcruncher instantly accepts Sideswipe as a Decepticon (he's kinda dumb) but Razorgrille is suspicious that he could be working for another crime boss (even though he has an Autobot insignia). Razorgrille lets it slip that there's only the three Decepticons in the squad, which Magnus reports to Bee, saying that Overhead is alone in the base this means, whilst Magnus and the others take on the lackies.

The Bee Team enter Overheads's base, but are soon ambushed by here, thanks to a silent alarm she set up for intruders. The Autobots battle with the single Decepticon, but it appears to be an even fight. Razorgrille and Skullcruncher manage to run to the base, but are caught in the door with Magnus and the others. Despite this, the Autobots now have the upper hand and Overhead is stuck in a corner.

Overhead decides to take drastic actions, and overloads the spacebridge, causing it to cause a black hole, however Bee manages to close it by smashing the Decepticon into the console and making the bridge explode.

In the aftermath the Decepticons are captured and placed into Stasis Cells back at the space bridge.

Magnus and his team load the captured members of the Sect into his ship as they prepare to leave the planet for Cybertron. Bee says he'll return to Cybertron once his mission on Earth is over, and the two teams part on good terms.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Ultra Magnus - Truck Cab

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Arcee - Motorcycle

Clipshade - Sports Car

Elite Guard (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Overhead - Security Transport Captured by Team Bee and Team Prime

Skullcruncher - Tank Captured by Team Bee and Team Prime

Razorgrille - Sports Car Captured by Team Bee and Team Prime

Megatron - Jet (Image only)

Thunderhoof (Mentioned)

Slipstream (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Other

Unicron (Mentioned)

Notes

• I wonder if  Skullcruncher's inclusion in this comic is due to his upcoming Titans Return toy?
• In their first panel Razorgrille has Skulcruncher's forearm wheels, but never any other time
• This is the second time that Sideswipe has pretended to be a Decepticon so he can trick one (though this time he doesn't even hide his Autobot insignia!)
• Slipstream is name-dropped as a crime boss. This is most likely in reference to the female Seeker, and not the Autobot Mini-Con.
• Razorgrille looks like he uses the same basic body-type as Knock Out.
• The High Council being unhappy with Bumblebee is mentioned by Jazz and Drift as being why they came to Earth on their separate missions

Sig-Pub - Transformers Robots in Disguise #1

Comic Title: Look Before You Leap!

Writer: Richard Mead

Artists: Dan Khanna and Evan Guantt 

Letterer: Terry Sambridge

Price: £3.49

Plot

Bumblebee and Strongarm wonder how they're going to get Springload into a Stasis Cell from the make-shift cage they made for him, so they decide to call the Scrapyard to send Sideswipe with a Stasis Cell before he can escape.

Before long, Sideswipe, along with the Humans arrive at the temple where the Autobots attempt to put him in the cell, but Springload manages to escape by clinging onto the lid of the casket, attacks Sideswipe with his acid-tongue and runs off. The Autobots give chase, but Springload manages to evade him.

Not long afterwards, the Autobots locate Springload inside a film studio, where they find Springload mistaking some prop-treasure for real treasure from the city of Doradus. The Autobots go in for an attack, but Bumblebee and Strongarm get trapped by some of the studio's gadgets (trapdoors etc) but Sideswipe manages to trick Springload into running from him, right into a backdrop-wall painted to look like an open field, knocking out the Decepticon.

Bumblebee congratulates Sideswipe on his success, and has him get the Stasis Cell from the temple again, before Springload can escape once more.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit 

Decepticon

Springload - Hooded Jeep

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Notes

• This series from Signature Publishing replaces Titan as the UK Transformers comic exclusive provider.
• This story is set just after "Rumble in the Jungle" and explains just how Strongarm and Bumblebee got Springload into a Stasis Cell.
• The comic is actually reasonably good, compared to the magazine itself anyway.
• The way he was defeated in this issue, I guess Springload has no spacial awareness....

Other Features

Transformers RID App Advert - Comes with a scan shield!

Transformers RID ID Form - Just fill in your info for your own use....yeah....

Meet the Autobots - Meet the Autobots! (well 6 of them anyway)

Grimlock Route Puzzle - Guide Grimlock to Underbite

Fire When Ready! - Reprint of IDW Robots in Disguise #0

Odd One Out Puzzle - Find the odd one out from the Decepticon pictures

"Posters" - I can't really call them posters, but saying "pictures" sounds stupid

Spot the Difference Puzzle - Guess what you do here...

Draw Optimus Prime - Do a grid copy image of Optimus in vehicle mode

Colouring - Colour in some pictures of Steeljaw and Bumblebee

Fact File - Information on Bumblebee!

Transformers Post - Fixit asks for mail and pictures for future issue

Competition Time! Win a Mega Optimus Prime toy!

Make a Door Hanger - Destroy the back cover to make a crappy door hanger!

Back Page - Pretty picture of Bumblebee running at you, next issue is November 20th

IDW - Robots in Disguise Animated #3

Written by: Georgia Ball

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Plot

The Autobots are hanging out in the scrapyard talking about their favourite TV show "Bin Battles" and how they would have done better in the show than the actual contestants. During this discussion, Fixit informs Bumblebee about his research into Clipshade, and locates another of his Cybercomrade allies, a Buffaloid named Overhead, who has been located at an abandoned storage facility 40 miles out of the city Bumblebee splits the team into two groups, Bee, Grimlock and Strongarm will go after Overhead, whilst Sideswipe, Denny and Russell go out to the other Storage facilities in the area, so as to distract Magnus' team whilst they go after their real target.

Whilst the Autobots are busy, Overhead steals the cargo from a security team working at the Crown City Municipal Bank, by disguising as their van, and drives off.

Later, Overhead returns to the abandoned storage facility that she's using as a hide-out, where Bee and the others are already waiting for her. The team try to confuse her and capture her in the same way they defeated previous Buffaloid prisoner Terrashock, but she is revealed to be smarter than her co-prisoner, and is able to fight off the Autobots, but does end up surrendering when she points out that all she wants to do is go back home, and offers to give up her real boss, since Clipshade is just a stooge. She gives the Autobots a transmitter with a signal that will call out her boss, so long as they don't put her back in a stasis cell.

Bumblebee and Grimlock head away to set up the transmitter, whilst Strongarm babysits Overhead, and Sideswipe is still stuck at the other storage units, where Denny has become engrossed in bidding on the storage units himself.

Before long, someone responds to the transmitter, who is revealed to be Clipshade. Bumblebee exposes himself and asks how he escaped from Ultra Magnus' custody, but after a short fight, Clipshade reveals that he's a double agent working for Magnus, and he was captured originally, and on purpose to get himself engrossed into the Cybercomrade Sect as a spy to try and find out who the mysterious head of the group is

At the storage unit, Strongarm wanders into the unit, and realizes that the equipment stolen by Overhead isn't actual just random junk, it's all ingredients for a space bridge! Overhead gets herself easily free from her cuffs and knocks out Strongarm, before taking her equipment revealing herself to be the head of the Cybercomrade Sect.

Soon, the Autobots, including Clipshade arrive at the storage unit, where Clipsahde reveals himself to be an actor actually named Spectrosynth. Afterwards, Magnus and his team appear, and say that it's time for answers....

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Ultra Magnus - Truck Cab

Arcee - Motorcycle

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Clipshade/Spectrosynth - Sports Car 

Autobots in Flashback (Flashback only)

Decepticon

Overhead - Security Van

Megatron - Space Jet (Mentioned)

Cybercomrade Sect (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Security Driver Joe

Joe's Co-worker

"Collector Kenny" (Mentioned)

"Kenny's Uncle Gene" (Mentioned)

"Bargain Billy" (Mentioned)

Notes

• "Bin Battles" is a parody of programs like "Storage Hunters"
• Being a Buffaloid, Overhead shares a character model, with some minor differences with Terrashock, but unlike him, she isn't an enforcer.
• The "Morton Donuts" sign is missing some letters that makes it spell out "Moron Nut" when Denny is hanging it up...HAH!
• Overhead's comment that her "compartments have compartments" is similar to Rung's comments on his own body in More Than Meets The Eye.
• Some of the Autobots in the flashback look a little familiar, with some appearing to resemble Prowl and Blades, and one even seemingly having TFA Grandus' head model.
• The mystery of Clipshade's gun not working last issue is unceremoniously revealed here to be because it's not a gun, it's a light projector....ahem...
• So...why exactly couldn't Magnus and the others tell Bee and his team about Clipshade being a double agent?! Even if they only told Bumblebee it would have made sense!

IDW - Robots in Disguise Animated #1

Written by: Georgia Ball

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Plot

The Autobots train to deal with the escaped Decepticons by playing a game of "Capture the Flag" against Fixit, but due to Grimlock, Strongarm and Sideswipe being unable to work well together, they let Fixit slip through their fingers and he wins, meaning they've failed their "mission".

Bumblebee is annoyed since he doesn't feel that his new team can be as good as his previous team under Optimus' command. Bumblebee announces that he's tripling their training to try and get them to work well, when suddenly the power goes out. Fixit discovers that a nearby transformer was shorted out, possibly due to a Decepticon attack. Strongarm and Sideswipe head out to investigate.

Once there, the duo are attacked by one of the Decepticon escapees, referring to them as "Cybetronian Scum" in the process, he manages to easily overpower the two Autobots with their lack of coordination, and he escapes again.

Back at base, Fixit identifies him as Spinhead, who was a saboteur on Cybertron, opposed to the new government on Cybetron who thought they were trying to turn the population into mindless automatons. The two young Autobots admit that they weren't working well together, which is why they lost the fight, but they want to try again.

Russell figures out where Spinhead is heading next, the Anitoba Institute for Extraterrestrial Communication, where Spinhead plans to contact his fellow Free Will Faction members (I guess). Spinhead tries to explain his plans to the Autobots, but they don't follow his logic at all, so he just attacks them as a Decepticons instead. This time, the Autobots work as a team, and manage to defeat the Decepticon, capturing him.

In the aftermath, Bumblebee hears Arcee contact Ultra Magnus, and tells him that Bee has captured Spinhead before he could be interrogated, and learns that they're hiding from him, which upsets the Autobot.

Bumblebee and his team head back to base with their new prisoner where the team relax. Bumblebee confides in Denny that his old team is on Earth, but don't want to be found by him, making his question how tight his team were in reality...

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police Vehicle

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Arcee - Motorcycle

Ultra Magnus (Voice Only)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Flashback Only)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback Only)

Smokescreen - Race Car (Flashback Only)

Decepticon

Spinhead - Helicopter Captured by Team Bee

Steeljaw - Off Road Vehicle (Manifest image only)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Cybertronian

Free Will Faction (Mentioned)

Notes

• The gun Fixit holds when he's role-playing as a Decepticon is Swerve's "My First Blaster" gun from More Than Meets the Eye
• The flag in the game features Kremzeek
• Optimus is shown in his RID character model in Bumblebee's flashback, rather than his Prime Season 3 body.
• Bulkhead still looks a bit miserable about lying to Bumblebee about being on Earth
• Sideswipe and Grimlock are playing the infamous "Mystery of Convoy" game back at base. They are also playing as Ultra Magnus, who is acting with Arcee and Bulkhead on Earth in secret
• The editor's letter and mini-comic at the end of this issue includes a scannable badge for the App game. It unlocks Cybertron Underbite, which is nothing to really be excited about...

RID - Sideswipe vs Thunderhoof

Plot

Sideswipe and Strongarm are driving along a road when they start arguing and have an impromptu play-fight in robot mode, suddenly another vehicle starts driving towards them forcing the two robots back into their vehicle modes. Suddenly the normal pick-up truck's front wheels burst and the vehicle is forced to stop, but another truck is coming around the corner and is about to collide, unless the two Autobots intervene.

The two Autobots line up on either side of the pick-up and guide it off the road, allowing the other truck to pass safely, at least in theory, but the truck is going too fast, and turns out to be an oil tanker, Strongarm puts on her sirens and places herself (in vehicle mode) in front of the tanker to try and stop it, luckily he manages to stop just before hitting Strongarm, much to the Autobot's relief. The two Autobots leave before the humans can find out they're robots and comment that they actually work well together, but wont admit that to the rest of the team.

The Autobots return to the junkyard where Bumblebee is waiting, and asks how their training session went, the Humans notice the scrapes on Sideswipe's body and they tell them how they stopped the collision, but stayed undercover much to Bumblebee's relief. All of a sudden there's an intruder alert in the junkyard.

When they return to the command center they find out that it's three humans who Russell knows from school, who are delinquents and have repeated the grade a few times. The Autobots revert to vehicle modes so Denny and Russell can see what they want.

Russell confronts the teens and they claim that this is their new hangout, but Denny soon appears and reveals to them that he and Russell own and live there. They start to leave, but see something they find interesting...a giant T-Rex statue...GRIMLOCK!

Denny and Russell try to say that Grimlock was just a prop from a Japanese monster film, but Steve claims to have never seen him in any film, and even points out that he's a dinosaur, not a Kaiju. When examining him, Grimlock notices a tattoo on one of the boy's arms with a cat on it, which causes him to freak out and break character, due to his fear of cats. The teens think they accidentally turned on the animatronic, and Denny lures the Dinobot away. the bullies start to threaten Russell when they think he's messing with them, and suddenly Sideswipe, in vehicle mode starts revving up to scare off the teens. Strongarm and Bumblebee joined in, and scare the teens away, Bumblebee compliments Sideswipe on his plan to protect Russsell and get rid of the teens safely.

Fixit detects a large number of Decepticon signals at the docks in Crown City, and the Autobots head towards there via the Groundbridge.

In an old steel mill at Crown City, Steeljaw is talking with Thunderhoof and Underbite, and gets annoyed with Thunderhoof when he starts going on about how he should be in charge again and attacks the other Decepticon, but lets him go as he needs the troops to help him in his long-term goals on Earth.

Thunderhoof, annoyed, goes for a walk, and Underbite tags along. They soon arrive at the docks and start discussing Thudnerhoof's stint as the Kospego when he first got released on Earth when they suddenly hear some commotion from inside the factory nearby. Inside, they find three more Decepticons stealing some of the products being stored there, the two Decepticons approach the newcomers, but find them aggressive towards them and they attack.

The Decepticons fight amongst themselves, and the Autobots bridge into the area outside and find the Decepticons fighting, and soon enter the battle too. Thunderhoof loses track of his opponent, Slink, and Sideswipe takes him on instead.

Whilst the others fight, Slink gets to a forklift and loads it up with her stolen goods and tries to get her henchmen to leave with her and the goods. Strongarm manages to rush to Sideswipe's aid against Thunderhoof, but are interrupted when Slink rushes past with the forklift, she shoots out the lights in the factory and has her team use their night vision goggles to see in the darkness, however thanks to the moonlight through the windows, Thunderhoof can still see the others, and gives them chase.

Due to all of the fighting the factory starts to collapse around the Cybertronians, the Autobots escape and give chase to Slink's team, whilst Thudnerhoof it left behind, seemingly trapped, but not for long, he escapes from the rubble and is angry.

The Bee Team soon find the newer Decepticons and manage to stop their plan, and capture them, the team head through the Groundbridge to head back to base, but Sideswipe is intercepted before he can leave by Thunderhoof and is forced to fight him again, he manages to use Thunderhoof's size to his advantage and tricks him into plummeting into the harbour's water. Bee returns through the Groundbridge and is complimented by his team leader for his quick thinking, Sideswipe claims he owes it all to his good teacher, and Bumblebee says the same, thinking about Optimus.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Optimus Prime - Truck (Vision in water)

Decepticon

Steeljaw - Van

Thunderhoof - Tractor

Underbite - Cybertronian Car

Slink the Catbot Captured by Bee Team

Sneak the Weaselbot Captured by Bee Team 

Snitch the Ratbot Captured by Bee Team 

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Joey

Johnny

Steve

Notes

• This is the second book in the new RID2015 series
• The first chapter of this book was previewed in the previous book, but included different pictures and was formatted differently.
• The teenagers seem to be well-versed in films, with Steve apparently seeing all Kaiju movies, and Johnny recalling Jurassic Park and Christine (but not saying their names). Considering this series should be sset in the future from now, these movies should probably be quite old by this time.
• This story has no sign of Drift or his Mini-Cons, further implying that his insertion in the last book was last-minute.
• Steeljaw reveals his plan is to find the Anti-Spark...could this be the major danger hinted at throughout season one of the cartoon?
• Thudnerhoof's line of "would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling bots" is a reference to the famous line from the Scooby-Doo series. To add to the similarities this was after he disguised himself as a local legend monster and was unveiled as fake.
• The only bit of information about the new three Decepticons we get is that Slink is black, none of them transform in the story, but appear to be small since they can all use the forklift in the factory.
• Slink's plan was to steal all the pet food in the factory and force the humans to pay through the nose to get it back so they can feed their beloved pets....that is EVIL!!!
• Why didn't one of the newer Decepticons take the form of the forklift rather than getting a normal one to ride in?

RID - Bumblebee vs Scuzzard

Plot

Bumblebee is sparring with Sideswipe and Strongarm at the junkyard, but starts to get annoyed when the two younger Autobots start bickering as usual. Russell turns up, feeling lonely since his friends have gone away for Spring Break. To try and cheer him up, the Autobots start to play a game of "Lob Ball", using Fixit as the ball itself, which ends up in a mess and Bumblebee has to save Fixit from being badly hurt.

Denny comes out, all excited about his old friend having some rare pinball machines for him, and he takes Russell with him to pick them up.

Elsewhere, one of the missing Stasis Pods opens up, and Scuzzard is released, he's immediately hungry and finds a liking to the taste of some junk around him...

Later, Russell and Denny have picked up the pinball machines, they encounter Scuzzard as he lands on top of their pick up truck. The humans drive the pick up truck away, so that they get away from the other innocent humans in the city, during the chase, one of the pinball machines is let loose, and smashes on the ground, Scuzzard goes after the trash allowing the humans to leave for now.

They make it back to the junkyard where they inform the Autobots about the Decepticon, whom Fixit manages to identify for them from the ship's manifest, and explains that he's a Scavengebot who gains power from eating matter, but his personal tastes make him like trash more than others. Fixit manages to track down the Decepticon and Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm head out to takke him down.

Sideswipe manages to get Scuzzard's attention when he finds him going after some junk at the arcade and leads him towards the other Autobots. Sideswipe manages to use a nearby forest as some cover to make it harder for Scuzzard to just pick him up and take him away, forcing him to land and fight Sideswipe in the forest, soon being accompanied by his team-mates.The Autobots manage to defeat and capture Scuzzard and head back to base.

Back at base, Grimlock starts playing some football with Russell, when he accidentally knocks into a Stasis Pod, and releases Filch from her pod.

On the way back to the base, Filch intercepts the Autobots, seeing them as "shiny" and manages to free Scuzzard, planning to add him to her collection. The Autobots head out to recapture them as a team.

Scuzzard struggles from Filch's grasp by biting her foot, and the two Decepticons start flying around causing some damage during their own little skirmish between themselves. Bumblebee and his team arrive and interrupt the battle by joining in themselves. During the battle, the Groundbridge opens up and Drift comes through, and joins the battle and they quickly defeat the two Decepticons.

Following the battle, the team head through the portal, and back to the junkyard with their prisoners in tow. Filch manages to briefly escape their grasps again, but is soon recaptured and placed back into their cells.

Drift informs the team that he's found an Energon deposit in his recent solo mission for them to gather up for their own uses, which makes the team even happier. Bumblebee tells the team that their teamwork in this mission was vital for their success and he's proud of them, and he's sure Optimus would be too.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Drift - Race Car

Jetstorm - Arm Guard

Slipstream - Arm Guard

Optimus Prime - Truck (Reflection or Possible Hallucination)

Decepticon

Scuzzard - Vulture

Filch - Falcon

Underbite - Cybertronian Car (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Doug Castillo

Hank (Mentioned)

Butch (Mentioned)

Other

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the first book in a (currently) small series of books showing other stories from the Robots in Disguise cartoon.
• This story is clearly set after Drift joins the Bee Team, but he is pretty much just shoehorned into the story, meaning he was probably added late on in development. His Mini-Cons even just appear for no reason in his brief scene!
• Scuzzard appears to have a robot mode, with his vulture form being his alternate mode, much like Filch has, compared to the majority of Decepticons from the Alchemor.
• Grimlock mistakes the term "pigskin" as a Decepticon's name. This is somewhat understandable considering the animalistic theme of the Decepticons in the series.
• Bumblebee uses Strongarm's usual "catchphrase" of "Sweet Solus Prime!" here, this may have been a mistake and was supposed to be her line after all.
• It's mentioned here that the Decepticons are after something just about as powerful as the All-Spark...this would be mentioned to be the Anti-Spark in the next book, but we don't know what it is so far (it's possibly a Dark Spark clone though). This also gives us our first potential look at what the "big threat" of the series that Optimus is training for is.

IDW - Robots in Disguise #0

Title: Fire, When Ready!

Written by: John Barber

Art & Cover by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

The forest outside the Fun-A-Rama amusement park is on fire, and some human firefighters are dealing with it, whilst Strongarm and Grimlock appear, unnoticed by them to investigate an opened stasis cell, whilst Grimlock helps put out the fire secretly.

Strongarm reports the find back to base, where Fixit identifies the likely culprit to be Flamefeather, who is an arsonist. Bumblebee heads out with Denny, but has Sideswipe and Russell stay behind with Fixit, as punishment for messing around in the junk yard. However, once Sideswipe and Russell find out that the incident is happening near an amusement park, they decide to head out there anyway.

Bumblebee arrives at Strongarm's location, and finds out from them that Flamefeather's scent is leading towards the amusement park, making Bee wonder why he's gone there.

Meanwhile, Sideswipe and Russell have arrived at the park for some fun, when they are attacked by Flamefeather, once Flamefeather has escaped though, Bee and the others turn up, and they split up to hunt down the Decepticon. Sideswipe realizes that Flamefeather is heading towards a new ride that is opening the next day, designed to look like a spaceship, mistaking it for a real one and wants to leave the planet.

The team track him down, and manage to knock him out before the park opens. Sideswipe is made to carry Flamefeather back to base as punishment for not obeying his orders, whilst Grimlock is left behind as a fake attraction at the park, to avoid the humans finding him amongst them.

However, all of this is monitored by Ultra Magnus and his small team, also secretly on Earth, who deem it unwise to tell Bumblebee about their mission, or to ask for his help, as they don't think he'll understand why they need to do this...

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police Vehicle

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Ultra Magnus - Truck Cab

Arcee - Motorcycle

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Decepticon

Flamefeather - Fire Breathing Bird Captured by Team Bee

Steeljaw - Van (Picture)

Underbite - Cybertronian Car (Picture)

Filch - Bird (Picture)

Bisk - Sports Car (Picture)

Human

Denny

Russell

Firefighters

Fun-A-Rama Patrons

Notes

• This is the 2015 Free Comic Book Day Transformers comic, also acting as the pilot issue for the new comic series, beginning in July.
• Unlike most Decepticons in the Robots in Disguise series, Flamefeather has a beast mode, rather than a beast-looking robot mode (similar to Filch)
• The team get over the "get Grimlock back to base unnoticed" problem they always have by just leaving him as a fake attraction at the amusement park...this is amusing :)
• Ultra Magnus' team use a Sky Spy to monitor Bee and the team.
• Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead and Arcee appear in their Prime designs rather than being remodelled to look like Robots in Disguise designs.
• Ultra Magnus appears to have had his hand fixed in the years since the end of Prime.
• In the "Writer's Letter" section, Bumblebee expresses a dislike to John Barber, this is due to him killing off his G1 counterpart during IDW's Dark Cybertron storyline.

DW - 20th Anniversary Summer Special

G1 - Welcome to the Jungle

Plot

Megatron fights a feral Razorclaw on Planet Beest, having already defeated and captured the other Predacons, but manages to defeat the Predacon leader in the forest and take shim back to his lair inside a temple where he fixes his mind and refits Razorclaw to be able to combine with his fellow Predacons, into Predaking.

Characters

Decepticon

Megatron - Gun

Razorclaw - Lion

Predacons (Seen in Predaking Mode)

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt

Air Warriors - Jets

Other

Battle Beasts

Notes

• This story is set between Megatron killing Wreck-Gar and returning to Cybertron
• The denizens of Planet Beest are the Battle Beasts.
• Despite what is shown on the cover, the other Predacons don't actually appear in this comic

Energon - Perspective

Plot

Slugslinger, Snow Cat and Sharkticon return from a mission (to steal the Omega Supreme plans) in failure and lie to Megatron about what went wrong, and telling him how it wasn't each of their faults. After listening to all of them, Megatron talks to Slugslinger and says that his lie was the most convincing, which is what he needs in his army, so he promotes him to senior lieutenant.

Characters

Autobot

Omega Supreme - Crane and Train (Flashback) Under Construction

Decepticon

Megatron - Space Jet

Snow Cat - Snow Tracker

Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet

Sharkticon - Submarine

Shockblast - Sattelite/Tank (Mentioned)

Mini-Con

Skyboom - Shuttle (Flashback)

Wreckage - Warship (Flashback)

Scattor - Jet (Flashback)

Human

Kicker (Flashback)

Notes

• This is set after the last to be released issue of Energon
• ...Why was Snow Cat...who turns into a snowmobile sent on a mission to Ocean City, which is in the ocean...?
• Slugslinger and Sharkticon's faces look different to their normal states, both looking more normal than they should
• The Energon Saber Team are in their Armada series counterpart's colours

RID - Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?

Plot

Megatron tells Scourge and Sky-Byte that their supplies from Cybertron have been cut off due to issues there, so he orders them to drain energy from Earth, whilst he and some of the Decepticons cause distractions for the Autobots.

The attacks begin and the Autobots are stretched thin so Optimus goes to deal with Scourge and Sky-Byte himself, who are attacking a power plant in Arizona, when Ultra Magnus joins in as well. The two learn to work together and eventually manage to defeat the bad guys, saving the day, however Magnus still doesn't want to be part of Prime's team, so he goes off on his own once more.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Fire Truck

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Prowl - Police Car

Side Burn - Muscle Car

X-Brawn - SUV

T-Ai

Rapid Run - Bullet Train (On Screen)

Predacon

Megatron - Dragon/Bat/Hand/Car/Jet

Sky-Byte - Shark

Slapper - Toad

Gas Skunk - Skunk

Darkscream - Flying Squirrel

Decepticon

Scourge - Oil Tanker

Armorhide - Tank

Rollbar - Jeep

Human

Workers

Firemen

Notes

• This comic seems to be set during the RID TV series. It's likely however that had this of been picked up as a series that we'd have seen it diverge somewhat
• From the looks of things, Megatron is performing a diversion in this story....why?!
• Magnus pretty much calls Scourge a repaint.
• ...What is wrong with Side Burn's head in this story!?!?

BW - Ain't No Rat

Plot

The Maximals are on their way home with Megatron as their prisoner, so the Maximals all take a stasis nap to pass the time, whilst asleep, Rattrap has a dream about him being out alone, when Dinobot 2 attacks him, but he's rescued by three Maximals he doesn't recognize. Rattrap invites the Maximals to return to base with him for safety, but they refuse, saying they have more important things to do.

Rattrap wakes up to Optimus Primal wondering what he was talking about whilst sleeping, but Rattrap doesn't think it's important, and that it's just a dream, and they continue back home.

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Ape/Armoured Truck/Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rhinox - Thino

Black Arachnia - Spider

Silverbolt - Winged Wolf

Optimus Minor - Spider Monkey (Flashback)

Bonecrusher - Bison (Flashback)

Wolfang - Wolf (Flashback)

Predacon

Megatron - Dragon

Dinobot 2 - Raptor (Flashback)

Notes

• This story was selected to be the next Dreamwave series, however Dreamwave collapsed before it could be made, however the series was recycled by IDW for The Gathering, which has the same basic plot and characters (as seen from released scripts)
• This is of course set between the end of Beast wars and the start of Beast Machines.
• Despite what is shown on the front cover, Megatron ISN'T in his Tyrannosaurus Rex body in this story