IDW - Transformers #27

Title: War World: Moon

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editor: David Mariotte

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

Novastar's team, on board Sky Lynx, approach the Winged Moon, which has been attacked by the Decepticons, using the element of surprise due to the Moon having communications problems.

On the surface, Team Stream are trying to break into the inner facilities, but the engineers left on the Moon to try and save it have managed to barricade themselves in securely.

Shadow Striker leads some of the team, via a drill, directly into Enemy's holding cell, unaware that he was even stationed there, much to the Infiltration Trooper's annoyance.

On the surface, Astrotrain detects Sky Lynx approaching, and goes after him, however he doesn't know that only half of the giant Autobot is approaching, his other half has already landed carrying the Autobot team, who attack the Decepticons, and seem to have the upper hand.

Inside, the Decepticons sneak around to find the Energon stores, but find the corridors booby-trapped, so go after Systems Control instead, to take the whole Moon instead if just the Energon.

Sunstirm tries to break in, but the engineers rig the Energon supplies to detonate, sending Sunstorm into orbit, irradiating him in the process.

Seeing this, Slipstream calls for a retreat, and they collect the now glowing Sunstirm, mumbling about seeing something, and head back to Cybertron.

Back on the Moon, Sky Lynx collects the Autobots and engineers to return them to Cybertron too, but Cosmos opts to remain on the Moon to defend it from further attacks, but asks Lancer to deliver a message to Blast-Off, inviting him to join him....

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces/Senate Guard

Novastar - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Springer - Car/Helicopter

Sureshot - Buggy

Smokescreen - Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Decepticon/The Rise

Slipstream - Jet

Shadow Striker - Car

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Astrotrain - Trackless Train/Space Shuttle

Sunstorm - Jet Irradiated by Energon Explosion

Hotlink - Jet

Hyperdrive - Car

Blackjack - Car

Tracer - Helicopter

Enemy - Cassette Missing In Action

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned)

Blast-Off - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cosmos - Orbiter

Huffer - Truck

Gears - Van

Lancer - Car

Wheeljack - Race Car (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue's story presumably takes place just following Novastar leaving during the crisis meeting in issue 25, meaning it is likely occuring during the previous issue's events.
• Fico Ossio was the main artist for the Revolutionaries series as well as a few other series in the old IDW continuity, this is his first appearance on interiors in the new continuity.
• The engineer team refer to the Decepticons as "Risers" here. This is due to them not knowing about Megatron's uprising and their true nature yet.
• Sunstorm's newly irradiated firm is most likely a reference to his Dreamwave character, especially with his comments about seeing something afterwards. Maybe we'll finally get some proper use out of the character this time around!
• Enemy disappears from the Decepticon team before they can leave the Winged Moon, my guess is that this will be a recurring joke for the poor guy in this series...always getting left behind in horrible situations.
• It's unclear yet if Cosmos knows that Blast-Off is a member of the Decepticons or not.

IDW - Transformers #57

Title: White Heat

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Following the forced spacebridge journey, Optimus wakes up to find Soundwave standing next to him, opposite Sentinel Prime and Sovereign, who is now using Alpha Trion's decapitated body as his own. Sentinel informs them that they are in the shadow of the now dead Titan, Prion, who was abandoned by Micronus Prime, and offers Optimus to join him and prepare for his master, Onyx Prime's return.

On Earth. the newly reformed GI Joe attack the Cybertronians in the Indian Ocean, and go under water to try and secure the downed ship. Sky Lynx and the others fight them off and begin collecting up the injured, before the humans can capture any of them.

Back on Prion, Sentinel explains that the population of the planet were descendants of Micronus Prime that the Black Block Consortia razed, and the one survivor (Nickle) was corrupted by the Decepticons and joined them. Sentinel explains that he wants Optimus to use his power as a Prime to conquer Earth, to "protect" it from a similar fate to what happened here.

Sentinel asks Soundwave why he is now allied with Optimus, and the Decepticon explains that when he witnessed him raising the Titan on Earth, he realized that he was a true Prime. Sentinel is happy with this, and have Sovereign slash Soundwave with his energy blade, glad that he can die a believer now.

Back on Earth, Blitzwing has escaped the Autobots and plans to go off on his own, however Zilong Qian, now going by Talon, skewers him on mecha and plans to fly him back to Governor's Island (their new HQ) much to Spike's disgust,

The Torchbearers form into Victorion and use her gravitational powers to mess up the GI Joe jet's targeting systems, and Jetfire worries that this will all cause more problems.

On Prion again, Optimus flat out refuses Sentinel's offer and knocks him down. Soundwave removes the blade from his body and smacks Sovereign off of Alpha Trion's body. Soundwave then confronts the Titan Master and reactivates the "Blackrock" program within him, reverting him to his human personality.

Before the freed Titan Master can do anything, Sentinel grabs him and sends both of them through the spacebridge towards their next target. Soundwave cannot find the target location on the spacebridge's records, but Optimus doesn't care, he has Soundwave set the bridge to Cybertron so they cab get Alpha Trion medical attention.

On Earth, the Autobots retreat, with Vitcorion levitating the injured with her gravitation powers. The Joes leave as well, glad that they have a Decepticon prisoner and the remains of the ship as well.

Shortly later, Alpha Trion has had his head reattached on Cybertron, and Fixit is confident that he'll recover. Optimus and Soundwave head back to the spacebrodge to return to Earth, and Soundwave confirms his belief that Optimus is right in his actions on Earth now, and now feels confident in the belief that all life is equal, not just Cybertronian life. He believes that they need to work together to deal with the upcoming dangers of Onyx Prime and his followers, as warned by Galvatron and Sentinel alike....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Sentinel Prime/Infinitus - Truck/Jet (and Head)

Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle Under Repairs by Fixit

Arcee - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Tracks - Sports Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Emergency Truck

Stormclash - Helicopter

Dust Up - Sports Car

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Skyburst - Helicopter (Part of Victorion Only)

Jumpstream - Sports Car (Part of Victorion Only)

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Race Car

Fixit - Ambulance

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet Captured by GI Joe

Rumble - Motorcycle

Frenzy - Motorcycle

Swift - Helicopter

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber

Mindwipe - Bat

Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet

Decepticon Ghetto Victims Dead

Galvatron - Tank (Footage) Dead

Nickel (Mentioned)

Ravage - Cassette (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Sovereign/Garrison Blackrock - Head Reverted to Blackrock Persona by Soundwave

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Lightbright

Bob the Insecticon

D.O.C.

Prion - City/Space Ship Dead

Mini-Cons Dead

Nexus Prime (Footage) Killed by Galvatron

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Liege Maximo (Mentioned)

Micronus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

GI Joe/EDC

Spike Witwicky

Zilong Qian/Talon

Deep Six

Wild Bill

GI Joe/EDC Troops

Joe Colton (Mentioned)

Other

Buster the Dog

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue marks the end of the Transformers Ongoing, which will be rebranded as "Optimus Prime" at the end of the year, except for one issue of Transformers Ongoing to tie in with Revolution.
• Hey look! we get to see Prion...but he's dead...and a load of Mini-Cons! They're dead too...I don't like this planet....
• Sovereign taking on Alpha Trion's head is a clear reference to his toy counterpart forming the ancient Autobot's head.
• This issue shows us that the EDC members have started taking on GI Joe codenames (this was shown in Revolution #1 with Ayana Jones now being Mayday, but that is set after this event).
• Sentinel/Infinitus talks about what happened to Prion, the Mini-cons and Micronus Prime leaving their planet as if he was present for it, if I'm remembering correctly, he has only just finished recovering from his assassination attempt...where is he getting his information from?
• Micronus' location is revealed in Revolution: Micronauts, where it is shown that he has formed the core of the Miroverse
• Blitzwing is captured here, allowing for him to be experimented on by GI Joe and Mile Manheim
• Soundwave grabs an energy sword by the blade and uses that to knock Sovereign off of Trion's head....badass...
• Sovereign is revealed to use Perception Filters to make him resemble a human
• Sentinel and Sovereign end up on Luna-1 following their departure on the spacebridge, leading to the events of the More Than Meets The Eye portion of this event.
• It looks like Fixit's medical bay is located on the top of a spindly tower....HOW IS THAT REASONABLE!??!
• Optimus' plan to send his troops to Cybertron to aid in the relief following Sentinel's attack on the Decepticon Ghetto is to explain why only a few Transformers are on Earth during Revolution. Optimus' comments that he hopes to see Windblade again soon also connects to her role on Earth during the crossover too.
• Soundwave reveals that Ravage died to Optimus, which we saw him feeling in MTTME #55

IDW - Transformers #48

Title: Conquerors Part 3: Helden

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

D.O.C. encounters Buster, the resident dog of the EDC and Thundercracker's belovedpet, however due to her apparent lack of use, D.O.C. dismisses her as unhelpful. Thundercracker appears from the corridor and mistakes D.O.C. for one of the EDC's drones. D.O.C. uses some holograms to try and tell Thudnercracker what's been happening, but he fails to understand it's meaning. D.O.C. wanders off to try and find his friends, and Buster follows, and leads him into the kitchen area, where she uses a machine to dispense some dog food for herself. D.O.C. hacks into the dispenser and brings up a map of the facility, but finds a power source leading to nothing, so he decides to investigate it.

Buster alerts the drone that some humans are coming, and creates a distracting by peeing on the floor, allowing D.O.C. to hover away unseen.

Before he can get too far away however, D.O.C. is mistaken for one of the resident drones and is captured by a truck, who takes him away for some reason. Buster watches this, but decides that D.O.C. is her friend now, and wants to rescue him.

Buster heads through the base, and locates the truck, biting at the clamps keeping D.O.C. in place,a nd freeing her new friend, who now accepts her as useful and a friend too.

The dynamic duo go through some tunnels and find an empty room, off the grid, and notices the roof leaking with some "bad water". D.O.C. ignores Buster's barks and cuts a hole in the oof, and causes it to flood the lower floor too. D.O.C. and Buster swim up to the top of the "water" they find the captured Autobots restrained, being slowly dissolved, however D.O.C. manages to break their restraints and begins cutting open the ceiling again.

Thundercracker, Faireborn and Jones are running down the corridor to locate Buster and the "runaway drone" and find the floor being burned open, just before the Autobots escape. Before a fight can break out though, Buster and D.O.C. explain, with Jetfire and Thundercracker translating for the others, that they were found in a hidden room. Marissa had no idea about any of this, and figures that it must be all Blackrock's doing.

In Spike's cell, Blackrock keeps trying to get him to explain who he really is, and reveals that he wants Spike to do this because he knows Cybertronians better than anyone else. Spike suddenly twigs on and deduces that Blackrock is a Cybertronian in some way, which is why he has no past, or soul etc. Blackrock dismisses this, but the cell is suddenly broken into by the Autobots and EDC. Spike restrains Blackrock and Marissa takes his data-pad from him, revealing to her what he's been up to, including capturing the Ark in orbit, and spying on the world. She prepares to release the ship when suddenly Galvatron teleports in (with a now freed Skywarp) and confirms that Blackrock was planted on Earth by Onyx Prime to capture the Enigma of Combination for him, but now Galvatron wants him so he can continue his war against the Primes, before grabbing Blackrock, welcoming him as his Cybertronian brother....

Characters

Autobot

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Jazz - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Kup - Pick-Up Truck

Cosmos - Orbiter (Hologram)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Hologram)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Sanjay Bharwanay

Spike Witwicky

EDC Troops

Cybertronian

Garrison Blackrock Captured by Galvatron

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Nexus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Other

Buster the Dog

D.O.C.

Thrust-Dirge Clone Combiners - Jets (Hologram)

Notes

• Due to both main characters in this issue not being to talk "properly" we get specific panels with their language translated for us...it is quite hilarious.
• Also, when Buster is "in charge" of the story, the colours are somewhat more muted, due to dogs having a more limited colour-range.
• How did D.O.C. get footage of Soundwave and Cosmos on the Jupiter commune?
• Faireborn and Jones are dressed up in clothing similar to Lady Jaye's from GI Joe. In previous series' Jaye was Marissa's mother.
• One of the posters in the EDC rec-room says to "Visit Poverty Flat" that was the town that was caught in the middle of the fight between the Autobots and Decepticons after they returned to Earth following Dark Cybertron.
• It has also been "40 days" with no accidents. The last "accident" was probably when the Autobots attacked the EDC base and General Witwicky was killed.
• Human language to Buster is translated into anagrams of most words, with specific key words being unscrambled, such as "Hi", "Buster" and "Dog".
• We saw Jazz being slowly melted away by Blackrock in an earlier issue, but now we know all the captured Autobots are in that same pool as well
• Thundercracker can apparently accurately translate what Buster says....odd.
• If it is true that Blackrock is one of Onyx Prime's followers in disguise and under deep-cover, then this would explain how Blackrock was able to re-translate "Ark" as "Vanguard" in the previous issue
• Also, even if it turns out to be a trick of some sort, it now seems likely that the "Black Angel" that Blackrock mentioned before is most likely Onyx Prime, since his traditional appearance has wings, which could be seen as angelic, and the word "Onyx" even means black!
• Also, this issue implies that Onyx Prime still lives somewhere, since he more than likely planted Blackrock on Earth in the more recent past.
• Skywarp has been freed from the Nemesis...let's see if he stays that way now?

IDW - The Transformers #45

Title: The Nothing Man

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

At the EDC HQ at Bikini Atoll, Thundercracker is moaning at Marissa to let him see Spike, as he thinks he can get him to talk, since they did "save the world" together during the Decepticon occupation of the planet. Marissa however, doesn't want to hear anything from Spike, it's Blackrock who wants to talk to him alone. During their conversation, Blackrock reveals to Spike that his Onyx interface uses a Cybertronian code that he found, and has essentially "infected" the planet's devices with it.

On the Ark-7, Jetfire is still analysing the Onyx source code, and discovers that whenever he tries to mirror the signal, it changes, as if it's alive in some way. He wants to track the source of the signal on Earth, which Arcee allows, along with a team.

On the Nemesis, Soundwave and Galvatron are preparing for the imminent arrivals of the Decepticons from Cybertron when they detect the Autobots heading to Earth, Soundwave asks if they should inform their allies on Earth, but Galvatron just says not to bother.

Near the South Pole on Earth, Jetfire, Jazz, Kup, Sky Lynx and D.O.C. arrive at a small station that is sending out a signal for the Onyx interface, however before they can do anything there, they are attacked by a group of gestalt monsters made from the Thrust and Ramjet drones, who instantly smash Jetfire into the ground, and quickly disable Kup and Jazz too.

Sky Lynx races off into orbit to try and get reinforcements from the Ark-7, but is chased by the gestalts, who are revealed to have the ability to transform into giant gets too.

Blackrock is watching this fight from Spike's cell, where he reveals that his studies of the Enigma of Combination revealed the power of creating gestalts a long time ago, but he hid it when they were attacked by Prowl, just so they could have an upper-hand later on.

Arcee and Sideswipe deploy the Ark-7's massive weapons supply, and prepare to fire on the gestalts chasing Sky Lynx, however when they open fire the shields are raised as well, and cause the weapons to back-fire and badly damage the shuttle. Sky Lynx also ends up smashing into the ship's shield, and knocks himself out of commission too.

On the ship, Arcee and Sideswipe try to repair the damage and get control of the ship back, but Alpha Trion reveals to them that the Onyx source code they brought onto the ship is in fact the source code for the Enigma of Combination itself, and with it Blackrock has taken control of their systems.

Back on Earth, Blackrock reveals to Spike that he is able to tap into the systems that have installed his Onyx Interface, and with it he can learn everything about anyone, he can even see their souls in the process, however he cannot see his own soul.

He reveals that his reason for imprisoning Spike is so that Spike can find out why he has no soul. Spike isn't sure how he expects him to do this, but Blackrock locks the door behind him anyway...

In the aftermath of this attack, the Autobots are crippled, and Galvatron immediately starts to plan to attack the Ark-7, so they can take control of the space bridge.

Cosmos is in orbit still, trying to reach the teams, and D.O.C. is left abandoned in the South Pole.On the Ark- Arcee and the others appear trapped inside the burning vessel, but Arcee plans to use the space bridge to escape....

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck Smashed by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Jetfire - Jet Smashed by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Jazz - Sports Car Torn Apart by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle Crashed into Ark-7 shields

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Alpha Trion

Cosmos - Orbiter

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Laserbeak - Cassette

Rumble - Motorcycle

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet Attached to Nemesis

Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

D.O.C.

Primus (Mentioned)

Nova Prime (Mentioned)

Nova Prime's C.A.D.R.E. (Mentioned)

Human

Garrison Blackrock

Spike Witwicky

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Sanjay Bharwanay

Other

Thrust/Jetfire Drone Combiners - Giant Jets

Buster the Dog

Notes

• Despite his new-found distrust of them, Thundercracker seems happy to still hang around with the EDC base....you know despite the zombie army in the basement!
• Spike's prisoner uniform features a QR code on the back, though it is mostly obscured so it's unclear what it contains (most likely it'd be his criminal record in continuity)
• The ancient code used for the Onyx interface includes some Decepticon insignias, this is the first indication that the Decepticon insignia may have preceded it's use in the Decepticon's revolution. The Autobot insignia was previously revealed to have been used by a lost tribe in the past too.
• From the dialogue it seems that the previous issue has indeed already happened, judging from the lack of Astrotrain, it's likely he took the other Decepticons back to Cybertron, rather than using the Space Bridge like I'd previously assumed.
• Jetfire's colour scheme in his stealth paint job is based on his "Dark Skyfire" toy counterpart made from his Classics incarnation's toy.
• Jazz is torn apart by one of the Thrust/Ramjet combiners, much like how his movie counterpart was torn apart and killed by Movie Megatron.
• It's revealed that the modern Ark shuttles were designed by Nova Prime's team, previously it was believed the Arks were simply named after the original lost star ship, but this implies that they may have been planned to be a fleet of ships for Nova's expansion originally.
• Blackrock was mentioned as having no records of himself from more than 3 years ago in an earlier issue, this issue adds to the idea that he may not be human or natural with him not having a "soul"

IDW - Transformers #42

Title: Combiner Wars Epilogue: Now and On Earth

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli & Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Livio Ramondelli & Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Arcee is communicating with Optimus from Earth, he tells her aboout the recent battles, and that Starscream has attempted to rehabilitate Devastator by having him hellp protect the Spacebridge etc (under heavy guard of course). He asks why Arcee didn't tell him about Prowl and his actions with the Enigma on Earth, she says she tried to keep him on mission to contain the Enigma, but he went rogue. She then learns from Optimus that Prowl is being detained, under his custody. Arcee asks what he plans to do with Prowl, to which Optimus has no answer.

Arcee ends the call in a swamp on Earth, where she meets up with Galvatron, and he asks her to tell him what happened on Cybertron with the Enigma.

On Cybertron, Optimus releases Prowl from his binds, and Prowl acknowledges that his actions attacking the Spacebridge were wrong, not because of the moral reasons, but because he was arrested for it afterwards. Optimus punches Prowl in the face, knocking him down.

Arcee finishes explaining what happened to Galvatron, and reveals that Cybertron has made contact with the Colony Worlds again through the Spacebridges. Galvatron brings up that Arcee's ship has a Spacebridge now, which she immediately tells him he can't use it, but he simply says that HE won't be the one to use it....

Optimus and Prowl fight it out, resulting in Optimus punching Prowl out of a window, and pummelling his old friend, telling him that it's his fault he's been driven to doing this.

Back on Earth, Galvatron gives Arcee one of Blackrock's Onyx tablets, suggesting that Blackrock's access to Cybertronian technology,, it may be worth looking into it's workings, since the Decepticons under his command aren't exactly scientifically minded. Galvatron asks Arcee to send an Autobot to investigate the human's work on the Jupiter Decepticon commune, as he wants to look into it for Soundwave's sake, but can't risk the Humans thinking he doesn't trust them like this.

Optimus and Prowl continue their fight, with Prowl renouncing all his old friends as having betrayed him, and claims that all he's done has been for the good of Cybertron itself.

Arcee returns to Ark-7, near Earth, and gives Jetfire the tablet to analyse, and tells Cosmos she has a mission for him.

On Cybertron, again, Optimus manages to win the fight, by pushing Prowl off of a bridge, and crippling him, he tells Prowl to stay down as he trains his gun at his old friend. Prowl tells Optimus that he will never be out of Optimus' mind now, since they were once combined, the same way he is with the Constructicons now, and tells him that whatever happens, Optimus will eventually take down Starscream, and destroy Megatron, all because he is in his mind now. Optimus thinks about this, and says that his loyalty is to peace, and he cannot kill Prowl, but he also knows that Prowl is too dangerous to live, so he asks him what HE would do in his place, only to find Prowl gone....

Jetfire finishes his analysis of the tablet, and surprisingly finds some Ancient Cybertronian source coding inside it. Arcee tells Jetfire to decode the device and see what the coding does, and tells Cosmos to go to Jupiter for his mission.

Back on Cybertron, it is revealed that Rattrap was the one who "rescued" Prowl from Optimus, all because he knows that at some point his involvement in causing the Combiner Wars will be discovered, and he needs Prowl to help ensure his victory....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Arcee - Sports Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Cosmos - Orbiter

Sky-Lynx - Space Shuttle

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt (Mentioned)

Aerialbots (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Mentioned)

United Cybertron

Rattrap - Rat

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Scoop - Front End Loader (Mentioned)

Costructicons (Mentioned)

Human

Garrison Blackrock (Mentioned)

Other

D.O.C.

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Defensor is no where to be seen in this issue, possibly meaning the Protectobots did return to the Lost Light following the Combiner Wars.
• Arcee's new stealth paint scheme is based on her upcoming "Combiner Hunters" toy
• Whilst unconfirmed, it looks like Astrotrain is now sporting his currently unofficially announced "Titan Wars" toy
• FINALLY! Optimus is now taking the Prowl issue to hand!
• Galvatron's comments about someone using the Spacebridge possibly hints at her role in the upcoming "Combiner Wars" one shot comic, along with Windblade and Chromia.
• Astrotrain's bad eyes, revealed in Dark Cybertron are brought up again here, with him using binoculars again.
• D.O.C. is revealed to be named after his memory system "Dynamic Zer-Phase Chalcogenide" and is revealed to be just a tool, despite his apparent sentience.
• The Onyx Network is revealed to use Ancient Cybertronian source code. This sort of makes sense since the Enigma of Combination, an ancient artefact of Nexus Prime, was in their possession. This could of course mean they have more old technology too.
• Prowl's mistaken renaming of other characters as "Scrapper" is revealed to be due to the combiner mindset "infecting" his mind with Scrappper's memories too (despite Devastator being an imperfect combiner before Prowl's inclusion and after Scrapper's death)

Titan - Transformers Prime #4.19

Title: Smoked Out

Script: Chris Cooper

Art: Andres Ponce

Lettering: Comicraft

Cover Date: Mar/Apr 2014

Cover Price: £3.99

Poster: A mess of a Poster of the cast (see notes below for my moans)

Plot

Smokescreen is having a nice drive around a mountain road when he's attacked by a patrol of Vehicons and Skylynx, he easily takes down the Decepticons, but decides to run from Skylynx, however he gets damaged whilst driving away and winds up in a river which takes him to Jackdaw city where he finds a small garage to hide in and attempts repairs, when there he finds he's unable to transform and his weapons are offline, just then the garage's owner (Joe) arrives and is shocked to find a talking car.

Joe quickly realizes that Smokescreen is one of the rumoured alien robots from the internet, but decides to help him anyway, just to get him out of there, though he does intend to charge him a lot of his services afterwards.

By the next morning Joe's mostly finished, but he hears from his police radio (he has to so he can get to accidents to help with repairs quicker) that a large metal dragon (Skylynx) is attacking the city. Smokescreen is still unable to transform, so Joe helps him by forcing a chainsaw into his seems and forcing him to transform that way.

Soon Smokescreen is riding in the back of Joe's tow truck and swings the attached chain at Skylynx, drags him away and dumps him in the ocean. Afterwards Joe decides not to charge Smokescreen for the parts.

Characters

Autobot

Smokescreen - Race Car

Predacon

Skylynx - Winged Dragon

Decepticon

Vehicons - Muscle Cars

Human

Joe

Jackdaw Citizens

Notes

• I think I'm the only one buying this comic now....
• As promised above, here are my moans about the poster, it features 6 of the main Autobots: Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, Ratchet and Wheeljack, HOWEVER it shows Bumblebee in his season 1-2 colours and Optimus in his Beast Hunters body...now how was this "picture" taken exactly? This is also annoying because Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus aren't included despite being main characters in Season 3 (Beast Hunters) AND because Smokescreen is in fact thee main focus of this very comic issue!!
• All of the screenshots and CGI images of Smokescreen in the magazine are of him in his white and blue colours, but the comic has him wearing the blue and yellow version...
• The images of Skylynx and Darksteel in their profile page appear to be taken straight from the Art of Prime book
• AGAIN! Skylynx shouldn't be a) on Earth or b) aligned with the Decepticons!
• It's mentioned several times in the comic that Smokescreen was badly dinged up etc during his accident, yet all I can notice are a could of paint scratches!
• Joe the Mechanic sort of resembles Sparkplug Witwicky from the Marvel series.
• Smokescreen has a cartoonish sweat-mark when Joe tells him he's never tried prying open a Transformer manually before.
• It appears that more humans know about Transformers, or that Raf has been slacking a bit as some reports of them have been on the internet according to Joe.
• Smokescreen revealing himself to Joe ISN'T unprecedented in the Aligned continuity (besides the 3 kids in Prime) as the Rescue Bots were permitted to reveal their true natures as living robots, so long as there was no other way to save lives otherwise.
• Why didn't Skylynx bite the chain away or fly off ratehr than being dragged along to the ocean and dumped there?
• Yeah...I can just imagine Skylynx coming back for revenge just after the last panel of this comic....

Other Features

Adverts Galore!

Competition! You can win some old Transformers products (judging by the image!)

All about...SMOKESCREEN

Best of 'Bots! Quiz (Find out which Prime Autobot you are most like - I'm Bumblebee apparently....boo)

Double Trouble! Spot the difference game

The Trans Files Fun Facts about Darksteel and Skylynx

Soundwave's Stumpers! Puzzles from Soundwave

Relic Race A cut out board game (which would ruin the comic)

Mega Mouth Megatron and Arcee read the reader mail...guess I'm NOT the only reader after all!

IDW - Robots in Disguise #9

Staff

Plot

Bumblebee is sitting on top of Turmoil's ship whilst Wheeljack is investigating it when aheavily injured Sky Lynx crashes nearby, and he just manages to murmur that he's lost the others.

In the wastes, Ironhide watches as Slag and Swoop start fighting, he decides to try and sneak off whilst they're distracted, but he's attacked by Sludge, slowly all four Dinobots start fighting each other, and Ironhide runs off, and picks up a recording from Silverbolt, essentially reporting the same problem with his own team.

In Wheeljack's lab in Iacon Bumblebee and Wheeljack discuss what is happening and what the options are, and wonder why it's not happening in the city itself. Metalhawk and Starscream walk into the lab to ask what's happening. Bumblebee says they have a team ready to go in the morning, since it seems safer during the day to travel outside the city. Starscream continues to badger Bumblebee about opening up free-elections.

In the Wilds, Ironhide is seeing parallels between his situation with the Dinobots and what happened to Silverbolt and his team in the recording, just as the Dinobots start to gang up on Ironhide and chase him as a team.

In Iacon, Bumblebee visits Blurr at his bar, and they discuss the old days, and Bumblebee to help out Ironhide. Blurr asks what he needs him to do. Outside Ravage and the Reflector Trio are following Bumblebee on Shockwave's orders, and the four of them proceed with their mission, unaware that Arcee has been aiming at them with her sniper rifle, pretending to shoot them.

Ironhide fights off his team, but manages to break free and legs it. Back at Turmoil's ship, Wheeljack is looking over the systems again, so he can keep his mind off Ironhide and the Dinobots, when suddenly the ship disappears with no warning.

In the Wilds again, Ironhide makes contact with Silverbolt at last, but is still being chased by the Dinobots, but is picked up by a giant robot, a gestalt form of the Aerialbots, The Superion, who declares that the DInobots have to answer to him now.

Back in Iacon, Prowl and his team are investigating the disappearance of Turmoil's ship, and no-one has a clue what's happened to it....

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Car

Wheeljack - Car

Ironhide - Van

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Slag - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sky Lynx

Blurr - Race Car

Arcee

Prowl - Car

The Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt

Silverbolt - Jet (On Recording/Part of Superion)

Air Raid - Jet (Mentioned/Part of Superion)

Slingshot - Jet (Mentioned/Part of Superion)

Sky Dive - Jet (Mentioned/Part of Superion)

Fireflight - Jet (Mentioned/Part of Superion)

Bluestreak - Car
Warpath - Tank
Doublecross
Joyride
Circuit
Catilla
Fastlane
Cloudraker
Fixit
Streetwise
Sideswipe

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Zeta Prime (Mentioned)

Monsterbots (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Jet

Shockwave

Ravage

Spectro

Spyglass

Viewfinder

Turmoil (Mentioned)

Megatron (Mentioned)

NAIL

Metalhawk - Jet

Other

Bar Patrons

Feral Turbofoxes (Mentioned)

Notes

• Wheeljack has a patch over his chest where Turmoil shot him
• Ironhide clearly doesn't know anatomy, as he's shocked Sludge is still alive, even though it was just his beast mode head that was sliced off
• Hey look! Ravage made words come out of him!
• Arcee seems to be getting a bit of an itchy trigger finger....
• How did the Aerialbots combine? I'm sure that'll be revealed before long :)
• Blurr still feels guilty for saving Zeta Prime when he was first recruited, as it was because of him that the war erupted originally, as shown in Autocracy
• Starscream mis-names the Dinobots as the Monsterbots

IDW - Robots in Disguise #8

Staff

Title: Dinobot Hunt

Writer: John Barber

Art: Andrew Griffith

Colours: Josh Perez and Joana Lafuente

Letters: Shawn Lee

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

After receiving a distress signal, Ironhide has gathered up a team to look for the Aerialbots, who walked into the Cybertronian Wilds some time ago, this team includes himself, the 4 active Dinobots and Sky Lynx, all of them are basically outsiders and don't feel fine staying in the city with everyone else.

Bumblebee and Prowl watch the team leave inside Sky Lynx to find Starscream and Metalhawk talking about free elections again, much to the annoyance of Bumblebee.

Above the Wilds, Sky Lynx begins to feel disorientated, and drops off Ironhide and the Dinobots to investigate the area, whilst he heads home to recuperate, upon landing, the team are attacked by a feral Turbofox, who seems stronger than the regular sorts of Cybertron's past, but nonetheless the Dinobots make short work of it, but then Ironhide finds a piece of Silverbolt's wing and gets worried. The group start to worry about a low hum they're all hearing and think it might be something bad.

Back in Iacon Bumblebee is shocked that Prowl wants the Free Elections to happen, but Prowl says that after all that's happened the population would have to vote for him after all the Decepticons have done in the past, and because Bumblebee is in fact a war hero.

In the wastes, Ironhide starts talking about his vision and the Dinobots seem to believe him.

In the Decepticon Pen, Swindle and the fugitive Dirge have come to see Shockwave and tell him all about what Prowl's been doing recently, and want to know what he can do about it.

Later, in the Wilds the Dinobots and Ironhide have built a shelter for the night to recharge, and Ironhide talks more about his vision, and how it seems like the Autobots eventually took on Nova Prime and Megatron's goals of Universal Expansion and Colonization, which upsets Ironhide.

Snarl takes the first watch that night whilst the others recharge, but Ironhide can't sleep, especially after hearing some gun fire outside. He goes to find out what happened, but has Snarl's body thrown at him (with a huge hole in his chest) and then sees Sludge's decapitated beast mode head on the ground, before getting ambushed and skewered through the chest by a crazed Swoop and Slag.....

Characters

Autobot

Ironhide - Van Skewered by Swoop and Slag

Sludge - Apatosaurus Beheaded by Swoop

Slag - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Snarl - Stegosaurus Hole Blasted through Chest by Swoop

Sky Lynx

Bumblebee - Car

Prowl - Car

Jetfire

Broadside

Aerialbots (Mentioned) Missing, presumed dead

Silverbolt - Jet (Mentioned) Missing, presumed dead

Arcee (Mentioned)

Grimlock (Mentioned)

Zeta Prime (Flashback) Killed by Megatron

Sentinel Prime (Flashback) Killed by Megatron

Optimus Prime (Flashback)

Decepticon

Starscream - Jet

Dirge - Jet

Shockwave

Swindle

Other Decepticons

Megatron (Flashback) Missing

Ratbat (Mentioned) Dead

Bombshell (Mentioned) Dead

Constructicons (Mentioned) Dead

NAIL

Metalhawk - Jet

Other

Monstrous Turbofox Killed by Dinobots

Ardurian Rocs (Mentioned)

The Old Senate (Mentioned) Defunct

Nova Prime (Mentioned) Dead

Nominus Prime (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• The Dinobots have changed their team spelling from Dynobot to Dinobot
• The Dinobots seem to be very comfortable in their dinosaur alternate modes, especially Sludge who stays in his all the time in this issue. It has been noted that they refused to take on new modes better suited for the planet, and have only just returned to the planet.
• The Cybertronian Wilds appear to look more organized than last time we saw them, now resembling the hive-design from Dark of the Moon. There's also a sound that can be heard the further from the city they go, telling travelers to turn back
• Shockwave actually seems a little interested in Dirge and Swindle's information about Prowl
• Ironhide and the Dinobots believe that Megatron might be out in the Wilds somewhere.
• Including Grimlock, who is off on another world, the only Dinobots who seem to be active by the end of this story are those with counterparts from Transformers: Animated...coincidence?
• Sky Lynx doesn't transform in this issue, despite carrying passengers...wonder why?