IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars 2022 Annual

Title: Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Written by: Sam Maggs

Art by: Lanna Souvanny

Title: Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Written by: David Mariotte

Art by: Phillip Johnson

Title: The Morphlings

Written by: Nick Marino

Art by: Andrea Bell

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Skold decides that she is going to make this day go well, but I'd immediately assaulted by Terrorsaur, and pushed into a cell with Powerhug.

The other Predacons watch her, upset in the cell, on the security system.

Powerhug talks to Skold, and makes her feel better about herself, and is quickly decapitated by the Predacon, to use his circuitry to free herself from the cell, to the shock of the other Predacons, and the decapitated Powerhug.

Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Whilst out looking for fallen Protoform Pods, Rhinox ends up falling into a maze trap, set up by the Spider Predacons, where he also finds Waspinator, who was also trapped by the Spiders.

The two work together, and make it to the exit. Waspinator flies out, but leaves Rhinox behind to get out himself, much to Rhinox's annoyance.

The Morphlings

Whilst waiting for Optimus to return from a mission, the Maximals sit around a campfire, leading Cheetor to start telling a "spooky" story.

Cheetor starts telling a fan-fic about the Beast Wars cast, but kills them all off screen, except a few characters, before having them all killed or corrupted by small creatures called Morphlings.

Cheetor muses on whether his story could ever happen, with the others unimpressed.

Characters

Maximal

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Powerhug - Pill Bug Decapitated by Skold

Optimus Primal - Ape (Mentioned)

Fallen Protoform Pods (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Waspinator - Wasp

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon 

Scorponok - Scorpion

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Fictional Characters

Megasavage

Servicons

Nightshriek - Bat Corrupted by Megasavage

Botanicus - Plant Killed by Servicons

Silverklaw - Bird Killed by Morphlings

Unnamed Ape Dead

Unnamed Spider Dead

Unnamed Rat Dead

Unnamed Cat Dead

Notes

• This special issue of Beast Wars presents us with some side stories set at uncertain points in the series. At the most, we can assume they are all set following Blackarachnia's introduction, but with the first one set before Terrorsaur's death.
• The Maximal Powerhug being on the Darksyde is never explained. Is he a prisoner? A corrupted Protoform that has just arrived there? One of the Children of the Vok? Does he die at the end of the issue, after Skold decapitates him? Why are the Predacons shocked at her killing one of their enemies?
• In the second story, we see Waspinator speaking like he does in the original cartoon, which hasn't really been a thing in this series this far. Also his dismissive nature in the first story COULD be out of character, but that was also just in Skold's imagination.
• The third story's fictional tale is, obviously, based on the Beast Machines cartoon, with all the characters representing characters from the show, but with the Defiance (the Maximal counterparts) being completely destroyed in this story.
• The only character to transform during the fictional story is Nightshriek, so it's not really confirmed if any of the others even can transform (I'd assume so though)
• The preview included in this comic is for the upcoming Beast Wars 16, which is actually two issues after this comic was released, spoiling that Megatron and Optimus escape their captures from issue 14.
• Among the character designs shown in the extra features is Amordillo, a character who has yet to appear in the series yet. Due to his electric green eyes however, I'm going to guess that he's a Child of the Vok who will be revealed before the finale.
• Interestingly, Optimus Primal never appears in this special, even as a cameo (assuming you don't count the Morphlings Optimus stand-in). Also, Dinobot doesn't even get a mention in any of these stories!

IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #13

Title: The Speedway of Central Consciousness

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals and Predacons battle it out on an Energon crystal field, but at one point an errant blast hits one of the crystals, knocking out Cheetor...

Cheetor wakes up on Cybertron, before the launch of the Axalon, but still remembers the events of the Beast Wars. Upon waking up, he is asked by multiple people about how Protoforms are modified, confusing the former racer, but eventually he remembers the explosion, and thinks that he's just dreaming following the trauma.

Soon, one of the Vok, Pakak, appears before him in a dark version of his own form and tries to force him to give up the information for him to use on the Protoforms in the real world, since he cannot unlock the information, for now. During his torture, Cheetor realizes that Palak needs him to live to get the information, which further infuriates Pakak.

The Vok offers Cheetor a deal, if he can win in a race against him, he will be awoken, but if Cheetor loses, he has to give up the information. Cheetor agrees, but soon regrets it when Pakak changes his form to Blurr's, the greatest racer in history.

After a close race, Cheetor manages to win, but Pakak reveals that he didn't care, as their race was along circuitry inside of Cheetor's own mind, allowing him to access the information he wanted. Pakak still frees Cheetor from his mind as a reward to winning, but causes a hard reboot of his systems upon reawakening, just after Cheetor mentions the word "Vok" to Optimus Primal and Rhinox, before returning to Subspace for their master plan with the Protoforms...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Cheetor - Cheetah (Race Car in Dream)

Rhinox - Rhino

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Dinobot - Velociraptor

CatSCAN - Car (Dream Only)

Science Ministry (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skorponok - Scorpion

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Waspinator - Wasp 

Vok

Pakak - Cheetah (as Cheetor), Race Car (as Blurr)

Other Vok (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cheetor's Fans (Dream Only)

Random Cybertronians (Dream Only)

Blurr - Race Car (Disguise Used in Dream) Implied Dead

Other Racers (Flashback Only)

Afterburner - Speedbike (Mentioned) Implied Dead

Rev (Mentioned)

Crashed Protorform Pods (Mentioned)

Notes

• CatSCAN's design is based on a version of the Transtech version of Cheetor, rather than using Cheetor's Cybertronian node from this series, to better differentiate the characters this issue.
• The shorter of Cheetor's fans seems to use a modified version of Swerve's Titans Return design.
• I really hope we get a Pakak repaint of Cheetor from his appearance this issue... They could just call him Nemesis Cheetor for marketing if they need to!
• Pakak indirectly mentions that Blurr is dead by the present day in this issue. Similarly, an "Afterburner Memorial Speedway" implies that the Technobot is dead too.
• The "Tiwaz Maneuver" mentioned a few times this issue is just a red herring, from Cheetor's days as an athlete, but due to its repeated use, I'm going to guess it'll reappear later in the series.

IDW - Beast Wars #12

Title: Maximals Strike Back, Part 3

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals and Predacons continue their fights inside and out of the Darksyde.

Nyx manages to disable the Transwarp engine, and also knock out Tarantulas. Rattrap calls her for help when Megatron's room locks itself up, with him on the inside, having stolen the Golden Disk.

Outside, Cheetor manages to knock out Scorponok and handles Blackarachnia.

Skold, angry that the Maximals brought Razorbeast here, leading to his death, fights with Rhinox, who refuses to fight back, seeing that she is upset.

Dinobot gets attacked by Waspinator, wanting revenge for Terrorsaur's death, but Dinobot blasts him away.

Optimus and Megatron continue their battle, but when Nyx requests assistance in freeing Rattrap, he gives up on the rise, and finishes off Megatron, leaving him beaten down on the ground in shock.

Blackarachnia abandons the battle seeing her leader was defeated, and Skold gives up on her one sided fight with Rhinox...

Inside the ship, Optimus manages to free Rattrap, and they, aloh with Nyx, try leavib this ship, only to encounter a forcefield.

Megatron gloats that he'll keep them there until he can be repaired in a CR Chamber, so he can kill them all.

Unfortunately for him though, Optimus threatens to destroy the disk if he doesn't let them go, and without their Transwarp drive they can't even leave the planet. 

Megatron is forced to let them go, but swears to not rest now until Optimus is dead...

The Maximals head into the shuttle, where Rattrap reveals he made a copy of the contents of the disk, so they can study it too.

Later, Tarantulas has collected Terrorsaur's corpse, and starts experimenting on it...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Razorbeast - Wild Boar (Mentioned) Dead

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Dead, Corpse being Experimented on

Rhinox's Old Friends (Mentioned) Some Dead

Other

"The Ones Before" (Mentioned)

Muhammad Ali (Mentioned)

Notes

• The roll call page this issue has been updated with crosses over the Terrorsaur and Razorbeast, due to their deaths last issue.
• Megatron's beast mode head gets stripped of its artificial skin, revealing a head based on Animated Grimlock's
• Blackarachnia  comments that she may have to switch allegiances after Megatron lost to Optimus. Her switching sides was one of her major plot lines in the original Beast Wars cartoon.
• Rhinox references that he had friends amongst the Predacons back on Cybertron, including some he even loved. We previously have heard from him that not all Predacons are evil, and that the two factions have had working relationships for centuries. It's even possible that he was the one to have that Predacon transmission that was briefly mentioned early in the series.
• Megatron had a forcefield generator set up inside the Darksyde, inspired by the Maximals using theirs to keep them at bay earlier.
• Rattrap is shown to have made a copy of the Golden Disk for them to analyse. This must have happened when he lingered in Megatron's room after retrieving it.
• Tarantulas previously told Terrorsaur that he wanted him to stay in one piece, so he had more parts for his experiments. My guess would be that we'll see something like his Transmetal form come from these experiments.
• Terrorsaur's spark isn't seen with his body during the end scene, implying it either was taken (possibly by the Vok) or just simply extinguished without a body to house it.

IDW - Beast Wars #1

Title: Savage Landing, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: David Mariotte

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

On Cybertron, the Tripredacus Agent Galavar, now going by the same Megatron, after the long-gone Decepticon leader, has led a team of loyal Predacons to steal a golden disk from the Science Ministry, and steal a Transwarp ship, destroying most of the rest at the shipyard in the process, much to the annoyance of the Tripredacus Council, who consider taking credit for it if his plan actually works though...

Elsewhere, the Axalon is is on a delivery mission when they are contacted by Ironhide of Maximal Command, who informs Optimus Primal of the theft on Cybertron, and orders him to intercept the Predacons before they can time jump with the Transwarp drive, since the Axalon is the only active Transwarp capable shuttle still in the area.

Soon, the Predacon shuttle passes them, causing the Maximals to give chase, and try to take out their engines, but they initiate the Transwarp drive, and start their time jump. Primal orders Nyx to tether their coordinates to the Predacon's, and the Axalon is pulled through too...

Now in the distant past, the Predacons arrive above an unnamed planet with two moons, and open fire on the second-to-arrive Axalon, taking out their weapons. Not letting that defeat the, Nyx rams the Axalon into the Predacon ship and sends both plummeting to the surface. On the way down, Rhinox ejects the Stasis Pods being stored on-board, to keep them safe from the crash impact, hoping they will land safely at a later date.

The two ships manage to dislodge and crash on opposite sides of a vast valley, knocking out both crews in the process, prompting the ship's A.I.s to repair them, but upon detecting high levels of Energon in the area, they scan the local lifeforms to grant them an extra organic shield to the exposure.

The two factions all recooperate and aclimate to their new forms, and Megatron plots to continue his grand scheme, but first, he plans to take out their pursuers...

Characters

Maximal

Ironhide - Tank

Optimus Primal - Gorilla (Previously Hover Truck)

Rhinox - Rhino (Previously Bulldozer)

Cheetor - Cheetah (Previously Race Car)

Rattrap - Rat (Previously Motorcycle)

Nyx - Bat (Previously Hover Speeder)

Under-3 - Car Killed by Scorponok

Other Maximal Command Security Force Members - Car Stunned by Predacons

Maximal Protoforms (Mentioned) In Stasis Pods, in Orbit

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

The Science Ministry (Mentioned)

Predacon

Sea Clamp

Ram Horn

Cicadacon

Galavar/Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Previously Tank)

Dinobot- Velociraptor (Previously Jet) 

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon (Previously Jet)

Waspinator - Wasp (Previously Jet)

Tarantulas - Tarantula (Previously Dragster)

Scorponok - Scorpion (Previously Pincer Tank)

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle (Previously Tank)

Other Cybertronian

Wheeljack (Statue Only)

G1 Megatron (Mentioned Only)

Notes

• This series marks the start of the first official remake of Beast Wars since the cartoon began, other comic series have been sequel, prequels or side-quels. (Uprising was set in a universe where G1 Megatron was killed by Blackarachnia's venom, after Beast Megatron's attempt to kill G1 Optimus, making it a sequel too). The series is being marketed as a celebration of the line's 25th anniversary, and is supposed to be an ongoing. We'll see how long this new series lasts though :)
• This issue essentially remakes the "Theft of the Golden Disk" mini-episode produced for Botcon many years ago, and the opening scene of the original cartoon's first episode.
• Most of the guards at the Science Ministry are based on the MCSF from the Botcon parts of the franchise, but seemingly using the character model made for Unit-3 (Under-3) for the final Botcon, using the Combiner Wars Dead End mould as the basis...I don't think this version of him will be combining into Magnaboss any time soon though... The other ones seen are kind of hard to identify, but three might be Shatterpoint, Highbeam and Switchblade, but I'm just not sure...
• Most of the main cast are using older toy designs of the characters (mostly from the various Botcon figures) but a few are new designs with their own histories, like Dinobot using the IDW1 design for Metalhawk that originated in "The Death of Optimus Prime" or Tarantulas using his Mesothulas design from "Sins of the Wreckers".
• The new characters introduced this issue are also based on older characters too, Skold is designed using Beast Machines Tankor's design in her Cybertronian mode, and a modified version of Beast Wars Snapper for the beast mode body. Nyx doesn't seem to have a particular basis for her Cybertronian body, but her beast mode is likely based on Beast Wars Sonar, but without the Transmetal II parts. Her name is likely based on Onyx Primal, who was also a bat Transformer from the past.
• The main cast Maximal Cybertronians alternate modes are show in the backmatter of this issue (albeit, using very small images though), but the Predacons are just shown in bot mode, so I am guess on their alternate modes, based on the previous uses of their designs.
• It's been known for a long time that Megatron had a different name before taking on the former Decepticon leader's name in his honour, but we never knew his name before now (other than the Gnashteeth link from the Micron Booster character). Galavar is most likely derived from Galvatron, a character that G1 Megatron would become (assuming this follows the same basic historical timeline as the original Beast Wars).
• Unlike in the original, the Maximals and Predacons had their beast-themed names before they even took on their beast modes.
• The Axalon and Darksyde are redesigned somewhat to make them more boxy that the original versions, which were more streamlined.
• Optimus Primal is shown to be a bit more of a loose cannon than his cartoon counterpart, being interested in trying time travel, even before his orders were given.
• Unlike in the cartoon, the two ship's crews were knocked into stasis lock when they crashed, and were scanned automatically by their ship's computers into animals to protect them from the planet's Energon exposure. In the original they made the decision themselves whilst still conscious.
• It's not currently clear if the planet they crash on here is the Prehistoric Earth like in the original version, but the presence of Earth animals does imply that it is.

TFCC - Dawn of Futures Past

Staff

Writers: Forest Lee, Pete Sinclair

Pencils: Dan Khanna, Alex Milne, Marcelo Matere

Inks: Jake Eisen, Terry Pallot

Colours: Drew Eiden, Josh Perez, Thomas Deer

Letters: Junemoon Studio

Plot

Megatron and his team steal the Golden Disk and the Maximal Security Force are in pursuit, Unit-1 is disabled during the battle so Unit-2 (Tigatron) is forced to hunt them down himself.

Elsewhere, Divebomb (of the original Predacons) orders the Decepticons Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to assist Megatron is his usage of the Golden Disk (as it was G1 Megatron's goal originally for this to happen). The Predacons under Megatron's command steal a Transwarp ship, the Darksyde and they leave the planet. Tigatron commandeers the Chromia-10 Pilot's (Airazor) ship, along with her to chase them.

Maximal Command are worried that Tigatron won't be able to stop them in time, so they decide to call in reinforcements.from a nearby ship. On a space station the Axalon is being filled with it's cargo, including Protoform X's Stasis Pod, and their crew in their own Stasis Pod's too (for the long journey). The Maximal's under Optimus Primal's command on the Axalon start on their mission to drop off Protoform X and then return to their true scientific mission when Maximal Command contacts them and informs them about Megatron stealing the disk, they're ordered to chase the Predacons and recover the disk before the Preds can escape.

Before the Axalon can hunt down the Darksyde, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw attack the ship, causing quite a lot of damage, however they're saved when Airazor and Tigatron attack the Decepticon ship at the cost of their own ship. Tigatron and Airazor's spark's are transplanted into some blank protoforms in storage so that they can be rescued. The Maximals proceed to hunt down the Predacons.

On board the Darksyde, Tarantulas is communicating with the Tripredacus Council about the start of his secret mission, when Megatron asks him for a progress report on the disk, which he's been analyzing. On the ship's bridge the crew detect the Maximal ship approaching them, and Megatron orders the Transwarp Drive to be prepared, Dinobot is angry that they're running away again, instead of killing their foes. Megatron opens a channel up to contact their pursuers before they disappear. He greets the Maximals and taunts them before opening fire.

The Transwarp portal opens up and the two ships enter it, fighting, and that leads into the start of the Beast wars TV series.

Many years later Razorclaw and some other Predacons have returned to the technorganic Cybertron and declares that the Maximals will fall at the hands of him and the Predacons.

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Rocket Car

Cheetor - Racing Convertible

Rattrap - Motorcycle

Rhinox - Front End Loader

Tigatron/Unit-2 - Racing Convertible Spark Transplanted into Protoform

Airazor - Twin Nosed Jet Spark Transplanted into Protoform

Nitrostreak/Unit-1 - Racing Convertible Injured by Predacons

Maximal Council (Mentioned)

Maximal Command

Space Station Crew

Axalon Crew (In Stasis Pods)

Predacon

Megatron - Tank

Dinobot - Excavator

Scorponok - Scorpion Tank

Tarantulas - Truck

Waspinator - Jet

Terrorsaur - Jet

Razorclaw - Lion

Divebomb - Falcon

Rampage - Tiger

Headstrong - Rhino

Tantrum - Bull

Cicadacon (On Monitor)

Decepticon

Laserbeak - Falcon Killed by the Axalon

Buzzsaw - Falcon Killed by the Axalon

Ravage (On Screen)

Other

Protoform X (In Stasis Pod)

Notes

• Pretty much every character shown here uses another toy model as the basis (including those from the 2006 Botcon boxset) from a variety of toylines
• Most of the characters are unnamed in this story, this fits with the storyline where they re-name themselves upon taking on Beast Modes in Beast Wars. But for the sake of identification, I'm naming them by their Beast Wars names.
• Scorponok uses Energon Scorponok's toy as his basis, although he's much smaller than the toy would be compared to the other toy-based character models
• Considering the Maximal space station seen around an alien world...do you think they would still be active after Megatron's take-over of Cybertron, or even if they knew about it?
• Tarantulas places the Golden Disk into a device that make's it look like the ones released with some Club Toys, including Razorclaw, shaped like the Planet X Cyber Keys from the Cybertron series.
• Megatron's Cybertron Red Alert based body is just a removable suit it seems....I bet the toy can't do that...
• Airazor and Tigatron acting like new-borns on Earth is explained here as being because they lost a lot of their memories during the spark transplant used to rescue them from their destroyed ship.