DDP - GI Joe vs The Transformers II

Plot

Since the last time we saw them, Cobra has been reformed and has started selling Cybertronian technology to black market dealers etc, and have also been experimenting on their own troops. GI Joe has been working to counter them with their own Autobot-given battle suits.

GI Joe break up an arms deal between the Dreadnoks and some other guys and battle ensues, but the Joes manage to easily defeat the Cobra sub-group and take them prisoner. The next day, Cobra Commander visits Destro at his home in Portugal and informs him of a plan of his and Starscream's to send them to Cybertron to steal new technology to defeat GI Joe and conquer the world, and to use the transporter connected to Cybertron's Teletran-3 (created by Cobra with some parts found) as a teleporter to make them invincible etc. Destro agrees and one of his servants leaves, diving into the water behind the mansion, revealing him as GI Joe spy Chuckles, who warns the rest of the team about this plan.

On Cybertron Optimus is leading the Autobots as a resistance group against a Shcokwave-controlled Decepticon army, who rules over Cybertron.

Back on Earth GI Joe raid a warehouse in Boston where Cobra are just activating their transporter, linked to Teletran-3 where Lady Jaye accidentally shoots the device and causes an energy surge transporting everyone in the room to Cybertron, but upon being sent to the alien world Teletran-3 malfunctions and accidentally transports several Transformers at random into Earth's history. Shockwave comes with a small team of Decepticons to investigate and find the humans and Starscream, before they can kill them though Ultra Magnus and Perceptor break into the room, fight off the Decepticons and set up a force-field around the humans, themselves, Starscream and Teletran-3 and inform the humans about what has happened to the Transformers and ask for their help in retrieving them (because if they are left in their time-displaced locations then Earth will be destroyed as a result). The teams are being sent out in mixed groups of Cobra and GI Joe members and are sent into the past with tracers and disks to revive the Transformers, who would be mode-locked in that era. (There is an automatic recall set up by Teletran-3 for when all the displaced Transformers in an era are equipped with the disks).

The first team arrive in the 70's and almost immediately find Jazz, and then shortly followed by Bumblebee. They locate Hot Rod, but before he can be rescued he is stolen by a human. Jaye manages to trick the thief into a race bringing them to a hanger where the last Transformer, Blitzwing is being stored, both Transformers are revived at this point, but before Blitzwing can attack the others the whole group are recalled to the present day Cybertron. The second team arrive in 1937 and are almost run over by a gang-warring pair of cars.

The second team have arrived in New York in 1937 and narrowly avoid being run over by some gangsters and police cars, and they start their mission (all whilst Percy the Viper starts breaking down due to the situation). the group soon find Optimus Prime and Beachhead beats down the natives who were using him as a transport and also learns that someone called Tommy Fingers found this truck and that they keep the rest of them in his garage under a club. Optimus is revived soon afterwards and is caught up on the situation which he agrees to help deal with.

Back on Cybertron, the Decepticons are surrounding the Teletran-3 tower (on Shockwave's orders) whilst the humans and Autobots inside the force field  are worried about the mission, especially since the force field will collapse in about 6 hours times.

Back in 1937 the team have gone undercover into Tommy Fingers' club to gain access into his basement-garage. Baroness drugs Tommy and Roadblock beats up the guards, in the disguise of a musician. Inside, Optimus can't tell who the four cars inside are, and they're still missing one, who is transporting dynamite right now (which is dangerous if exploded, especially with this apocalypse thing happening too). Breakdown reveals that he's been fine all along an dtransforms, shooting Optimus and stealing the reactivation disks, placing them on his team-mates, who wake up as well.

Optimus and the humans drive off, forcing the Stunticons to chase him as they hunt down the last one, Motormaster. The Joes use their weapons to blast the Stunticons on a bridge, which injures and slows them, they then come across Motormaster, with his human passengers and dynamite. Baroness is sick of wasting time, so she shoots Motormaster, despite the dynamite and then slaps a disk on him. The group are returned to Cybertron, with Percy happy that he's still alive.

The third team arrive at their destination, the future, where Earth has been ruined...

On the future Earth (about 2034ish), the third team are hiding from the Sweeps scanning th rubble, the team use the tracerto learn there's only one Transformer from the present in this timeframe (which will be hard to find due to there being other Transformers there too). The group are found by the Sweeps, but are rescued by a group of aged Dreadnoks, who said that the others all died about 15 years earlier. The former Dreadnoks reveal that Shockwave led an army of Decepticons and conquered the planet on August 17th 2014 and most humans are now dead or captured. The team are taken to see Duke, who is now horribly scarred, implanted with cybernetics and in a wheelchair, who doesn't care about the past and the apocalypse and just has them all join up with his resistance. Torch however is fed up of this version of the future and wants to help them out by taking them to the Autobot they're looking for.

On Cybertron Shockwave and his Decepticons have started blasting the force field to try and burst it.

Back in the future the humans are heading to "the Autobot" as he's known to the resistance thanks to his own amnesia when they're attacked by a swarm of Insecticons, however Tomax and Xamot save the day by using their upgraded powers to blast them, and Torch uses a weapon designed to disorient Insecticons. The group run into a forest, where a Ravage clone army attacks them, but they're saved at the last moment by "the Autobot"...Ratchet!

Ratchet is told what happened, but he says that he has a mission to deal with first, the team from the past reluctantly agree to it, despite this future not even existing when they succeed. The group ambush the Decepticons guarding some human prisoners and Ratchet kills them violently, Ratchet decides he can't leave, however Barbecue takes the option to refuse away when he pushes a disk onto him, sending them all back to the present day.

The team return to modern day Cybertron, where ratchet is still angry, but before long he's shot in the back by Shockwave, knocking him out. Shockwave has taken down the force field and captured the Autobots. Tomax and Xamot link up to use their ability again, but Shockwave burns one of the twins to ash. The group are taken prisoner and Shockwave is gald about how Earth will burn if the fourth team is not recovered soon, he then reveals that most of the humans ran away when the Decepticons broke into the force field, and are now missing, and that he was responsible for the transporter on Earth somehow, in preparation for his future invasion...

On Cybertron the missing humans are hiding out from Shockwave, and Storm Shadow returns from a recon mission with his back scorched. He draws up a map of the route back to Teletran-3 and informs the rest that Shockwave has blocked the last group from returning so he can destroy Earth that way. The route up is full of sensors etc that detect metal, so Jaye and Roadblock strip to their underwear to break in through a shaft.

Cyclonus congratulates Shockwave on his plan to have the humans find the teleporter parts on Earth whilst the 2 Joes break in. Roadblock makes a distraction by grabbing a Decepticon's gun and setting it off whilst Jaye activates Teletran-3 and recalls the last team, along with the Dinobots!

The Dinobots immediately start tearing apart the Decepticons with their new, much more powerful bodies. The building starts to collapse around them, and Starscream escapes.

After a short battle, the Dinobots are victorious and the humans are freed from their cells and hiding places.

The next day Optimus and the others are back in their normal bodies and send the humans back home, with the promise that both sides must destroy their ends of this transporter system, so they can't cause this problem again.

Starscream is captured and taken to Shockwave's HQ where he begs for mercy, when suddenly Cobra Commander's voice comes from a recording on his body informing them all that Starscream has been outfitted with 45 pounds of plastic explosives, just as Starscream explodes, killing Shockwave and all the others gathered in the base.

Three Months later, Mindbender is in prison, but is taken out and taken for his expertise by Agent Kendall and Depree, at the base he finds two dead bodies (most likely the real Kendall and Dupree) and several Cobra-La agents greeting him and asking for his help in the upcoming arrival from Unicron....

Characters

Autobot
Optimus Prime - 30's Six Wheel Truck
Ultra Magnus
Perceptor
Ironhide
Wheeljack
Jazz - 70's Coupe
Bumblebee - 70's Ford Pinto
Hot Rod - 70's Ford Mustang Muscle Car
Ratchet - Road Warrior Truck
Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex
Swoop - Pteranodon
Slag - Triceratops
Snarl - Stegosaurus
Sludge - Apatosaurus
Junkions - Motorcycles (Future Only)

Decepticon
Shockwave - Ray Gun Killed in Explosion
Starscream - Blackbird Killed in Explosion
Cyclonus
Scourge - Space Shuttle
Ruckus
Venom
Ramjet - Cybertronian Jet
Dirge - Cybertronian Jet
Ravage/Generic with his design
Ratbat/Generic with his design
Frenzy/Generic with his design
Rumble/Generic with his design
Kickback
Octane
Buzzsaw
Divebomb
Blitzwing - 70's Commuter Plane
Dead End - 30's Car
Drag Strip - 30's Car
Wildrider - 30's Car
Breakdown - 30's Car
Motormaster - 30's Six Wheeled Truck
Menasor (Mentioned)
"Giant Decepticon" (Future Only)
Sweeps - Space Shuttles (Future Only)
Kickback Swarm - Locusts (Future Only)
Bombshell Swarm -Boll Weevils (Future Only)
Shrapnel Swarm - Stag Beetles (Future Only)
Ravage Clones (Future Only)
Reflector Trio (Future Only) Killed by Ratchet
"Decepticon Medic" Killed in Explosion
Generic Decepticons

GI Joe
Beachhead
Scarlett
Stalker
Chuckles/Wilson
Dialtone
Snake-Eyes
Lady Jaye
Cover Girl
Barbecue
Dusty
Shipwreck
Sci-Fi
Roadblock
Spirit
Jinx
Gung-Ho
Bazooka
Joe Battlesuits

Cobra
Cobra Commander
Destro
Baroness
Dr. Mindbender
Storm Shadow
Zartan
Tomax Killed by Shockwave
Xamot
Percy the Viper
Torch
Buzzer
Ripper
Iron Grenadiers
Cobra Vipers
Cobra-La
Pythona
Nemesis Enforcer
Royal Guards
"Agent Dupree"
"Agent Kendall"

Future Resistance
Torch
Buzzer
Ripper
Duke
Other
Teletran-3
Modern Day Mercenaries
Destro's Mansion Staff
70's People
1937 People
Tommy Fingers
Unicron (Mentioned and Effigies)

Notes

• The events of the previous series were 2 years ago
• Cobra's been using Cybertronian technology to create new weapons and even upgrade their troops with "powers" or built in weapons
• Starscream has been reduced to Cobra Commander's slave/captive since we last saw him
• The Transformers that returned to Cybertron 2 years earlier have reverted to Cybertronian modes instead of keeping their Cobra vehicle modes
• Jazz's Cybertronian robot mode looks a lot more black than it should...this isn't the case for his 70's mode though!
• Wheeljack is shown being zapped in to another timeframe, but is never seen being recovered, or even ever again! This means that either he was recovered "off-screen" or he was destroyed in the energy surge.
• Most Decepticons shown in this comic are generics who use random character modelsand colour schemes.
• The Transformers who were sent through time were mode-locked and converted into local era alternate modes, thus maintaining the timeline (except the potential apocalypse thing)
• Some of the Transformers don't seem to actually be mode-locked
• Percy is REALLY in the wrong line of work!
• Optimus wasn't actually drawn into this by accident like everyone else was, he dived into an energy stream to try and save Jazz
• Though it's mentioned that Menasor could be formed in this story, it's never seen...Imagine how cool a 1937 era Menasor would look though!!
• The Giant Decepticon based on Energon Scorponok from the dark future is only seen very briefly in this story, before being replaced by Scourge, The Sweeps, Insecticons and Ravage clones just afterwards
• The Future Dreadnoks use motorcycles based on the Junkions...they might actually be them, so I'll say they are!! BWHAAHH!!
• The Ratchet of the future is amnesiac for some unknown reason, possibly due to the method of time travel
• Tomax is shown being killed by Shockwave in this story, but in a later story he's listed as having been captured...hmmm....
• It should be mentioned here that Storm Shadow is shown being taken care of by Cover Girl, and then by the next storyline he's joined the Joes...coincidence?
• By the day after the main events of this comic the Transformers have reverted to their normal Cybertronian modes...seems a bit pointless to have done that straight away (except the Dinobots of course, who are seen in their Dino-modes in the next story)
• The Decepticon Medic seen in this story seems to use Ratchet's normal G1 character model as a basis
• The location Mindbender is taken to at the end would likley be near the Himalayas, since that's where Cobra-La is as well.
• Dupree and Kendall are most likely Royal Guards in disguise or something as the two dead corpse-like things look pretty human and are otherwise unexplained really.

TFCC - The Stunti-Con Job

Comic Staff

Story - Marty Isenberg, Derrick J. Wyatt & Matt Youngberg

Writer - Marty Isenberg

Pencils/Inks - Marcelo Matere

Colours - Thomas Deer & Jesse Wittenrich

Letters - Jesse Wittenrich

Storyline

Shortly after Optimus Prime and his team return to Cybertron with the Allspark and Megatron and his troops as prisoners and the Decepticons are imprisoned in their old fortress Trypticon in Kaon.

In Iacon Sideswipe is working as a beat cop, approaching the end of his career and retirement to the Energon Farms, but he needs to solve this one last case, which regards some stolen modifications. Whilst out on the street looking into a lead Sideswipe and his new partner Cheetor take down Rattletrap, who has Optimus Prime's axe on him, he says that he gave it to him, so Sideswipe calls his bluff. The three of them go to see Optimus who shows them his axe, and Rattletrap admits that the one he has is a copy and was found at the Motor Master's Stunt Convoy's rehearsal. Sideswipe has Rattletrap taken to the stockades for peddling stolen merchandise.

Cheetor and Sideswipe head to the Stunt Convoy's practice area (a former gladiator arena in Kaon, next to Trypticon) when Cheetor spots some Decepticons and goes to attack them, only to be stopped by Wildrider, when he learns that the Decepticons are actually just actors performing into a show for Sentinel "Magnus". The Stunt Convoy rehearse their show and pander up to Sentinel, who's only upset that the hologram of his head used in the show isn't bigger (as he wants Megatron to see it from his cell). The rehearsal ends when Toxitron reveals he lost his axe, which Sideswipe says he has, and then proceeds to look through their props as he thinks there's more stolen modifications there, but finds nothing and is escorted off the site by some Autotroopers on Sentinel's orders.

Later Sideswipe and Cheetor are looking into the Stunt Convoy members but find no records of them at all, when an Autotrooper walks in and tells them that Ironfist's lab's been broken into. The two cops head out to help Ironfistand they find his lab ransacked and him unconscious, but they wake him and he points out a silhouette, who looks like Optimus, but they quickly discover that it's Toxitron! Cheetor attacks him and manages to take him down, but angers Sideswipe in the process by risking killing them all by shooting a laser in a lab with explosive materials in it.
Toxitron is taken in for questioning, but isn't able to given any coherent answers so he's let go. Afterwards Sideswipe and Cheetor look into it some more and realise that due to some excavation and demolitions equipment also go missing that means that the Stunt Convoy are planning a break out from the prison next to their arena, and he realizes that the Stunt Convoy must be Decepticons as well because of this.
Strika has Wildrider and his Stunticon team report about the mission and they confirm that the prison will be broken into when the arena is destroyed during their show's finale.
The show starts and the arena is filled with Autobots when Cheetor and Sideswipe rush in and stop the show, but the Stunticons fight back, with Sentinel actually believing this to be part of the show. The Stunticons have the two cops cornered, but then Toxitron comes out from the wings and causes a part of the stadium to collapse and crush the Decepticons, Toxitron transforms and is revealed to be Optimus using Electronic paint, much to Sentinel's surprise. Optimus plays a recording of the report to Strika, which he was posing as Toxitron during and reveals that he had the real Toxitron captured and had Ironfist do his paint job for this plan as he was suspicious of the Convoy.
Motor Master gets himself free somehow and threatens to blow up the entire stadium and has Sideswipe at point blank range, Sideswipe grabs an axe from the ground and launches it, sending him and Motor Master flying into the wall and he grabs the detonator from him. Cheetor shouts at Sideswipe for risking blowing up everyone (as Cheetor did earlier himself) and Sideswipe says that NO ONE will stop his retirement.
The Stunticons are taken into Trypticon to be imprisoned right next to Megatron and the others, and Sideswipe finally retires to the Energon farm, he relaxes and watches a meteor shower in the sky...until he realises the shower is another Decepticon team lad by Strika!

Characters

Autobot

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Cheetor - Race Car

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Sentinel Prime/Magnus

Autotroopers - Treaded Vehicles 

Rattletrap - Speedbike

Bulkhead - SWAT Van

Ratchet - Ambulance

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Arcee - Sports Car

Omega Supreme - Orion Space Shuttle

Jazz - Sports Car

Jetfire - Jet

Jetstorm - Jet

Alpha Trion

Perceptor - Mobile Laboratory

Blurr - Race Car Cubed

Cliffjumper - Small Car

Botanica - Coupe

Brawn - Treaded Van

Ironhide - Treaded Vehicle

Rodimus - Sports Car

Red Alert - Ambulance

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Grandus - Mobile Platform

Erector

Warpath - Tank

Hubcap - Small Car

Bumper - Small Car

Sedan - Small Car

Tap-Out - Small Car

Chase - Small Car

Searchlight - Small Car

Freeway - Small Car

Wheelie - Small Car

Powerglide - Treaded Vehicle

Pipes - Treaded Truck

Huffer - Treaded Truck

Chromia - Sports Car

Minerva - Sports Car

Tracks - Sports Car

Mirage - Race Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Cosmos - Observatory Buggy

Flareup - Motorcycle

Longrack

Rosanna

Lightbright - Submersible Hovercraft

Lickety-Split - Motor Trike 

Beachcomber (File Image)

Scrounge - Wheel (File Image)

Jackpot (File Image)

Decepticon

The Motor Master - Truck Cab Imprisoned in Trypticon

Wildrider - Muscle Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Drag Strip - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Dead End - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Breakdown - Sports Car Imprisoned in Trypticon

Toxitron - Truck Cab Imprisoned in Trypticon

Strika - Armoured Battle Tank

Blot - Tank

Sky-Byte - Bomber Plane

Mindwipe - Jet

Oil Slick - Motorcycle

Scalpel - Microscope

Megatron - Osprey Helicopter Imprisoned in Trypticon

Shockwave - Tank/Crane/Longarm Imprisoned in Trypticon

Lugnut - Bomber Plane Imprisoned in Trypticon

Mini-Con

High Wire

Leader-1

Grindor

Sureshock

Reachout

DUCK-E

Other

Sari Sumdac - Human Woman

Mudflap (File Image)

Notes

• Rattletrap asks Cheetor and him can work together, the latter says maybe in another lifetime...hmmmm...
• Motormaster and his team look like some of the Autobots because they were cloned from them
• Cheetor uses two of his weapons in one scene...you only get one with the toy :(
• Blurr is seen in cube form in the large crowd scene...so he wasn't incinerated!
• The Stunt Convoy's banner shows an image of the 2011 Botcon toy set's box art
• Oil Slick has a new weapon attached to him, which is clearer to see in the Addendum
• Wildrider uses Lockdown's character model, which implies (since all the others use Autobot bodies) that he was an Autobot originally before going freelance
• After he dons his cape, helmet and shoulder pads Sentinel seems to loose his vehicle mode kibble, implying that he has a new alternate mode...maybe we'll find out what that is in a later comic?
• Erector has a Cy-Gar...hope he's not crazy as well (like Kup)

Prologue: Moving Viloations

Comic Staff

Writers - Greg Sepelak & S. Trent Troop

Pencils/Inks - Greg Sepelak

Colours - S. Trent Troop

Letters - Jesse Wittenrich

Storyline

Cheetor chases Crumplezone and Ransack through a street on Cybertron for a moving violation, but ends up causing havok and ends up causing Crumplezone to create a large crater in the middle of the street.

Later Cheetor is berated by Chief Depth Charge who demotes him to a beat cop in Iacon for his actions (leading to the events of the main comic)

Characters

Autobot


Cheetor - Race Car
Depth Charge - Submersible Vehicle
Crumplezone - Rocket Car
Ransack - Speedbike
Pipes - Treaded Truck
Huffer - Treaded Truck
Road Rage - Sports Car
Excellion - Sports Car
Chromia - Sports Car
Glyph - Small Car
Moscardo - Small Car
Volks - Small Car
Chase - Small Car
Tap-Out - Small Car
Stampy - Speedbike
Flashpoint - Van
Strongarm - Treaded Van
Air Raid - Treaded Vehicle
Autotrooper - Treaded Vehicle
Dug Base - Mobile Platform
Stungun - Wheeled Vehicle
Hubcap - Small Car
Jackpot
Rosanna
Saur
Ramhorn
Autobot Workers (2)
Blurr - Race Car (Mentioned)

Other


The Motor Master - Truck Cab (Picture)
Wasp - Small Car (Wanted Poster)
Mudflap (Wanted Poster)

Notes

• Crumplezone is based on the Dark Crumplezone toy from the Cybertron series (most likely to distinguish him from Bulkhead)
• Cheetor gets splattered in black paint here, which explains why they are on his toy
• For a two page comic there sure are a lot of cameos here...
• Jackpot and Hubcap being spoken to by Stungun is a reference to Gone too Far
• There are no Decepticons (well except for a picture of Motor Master) in this comic as they were banished from Cybertron, Wasp is unalligned, and Mudflap's faction is unknown (and they're just on posters anyway)
• Jackpot is clearly based on Jazz, but appears in a Cybertronian mode, which wasn't shown before for Jazz, so this issue effectively reveals Jazz's Cybertronian form as well, but not his alternate mode of course <<
• Also, due to Ransack sharing a character mode with Rattletrap, this story also reveals his alternate mode (as well as Stampy's)
• Also there are many new character sin this comic that share character models with older characters, but rather than going on about all of them, I'll leave you guys to look them up yourselves (as I'm lazy)

Allspark Almanac Addendum

Cheetor Profile by Ironfist

Ironfist Profile by Swindle

Sideswipe Profile by Ransack and Crumplezone

Depth Charge Profile by Cheetor

Ransack Profile by Depth Charge

Crumplezone Profile by Sideswipe

The Motor Master Profile by Wildrider

Wildrider Profile by Drag Strip

Drag Strip Profile by Breakdown

Breakdown Profile by Dead End

Dead End Profile by Toxitron

Toxitron Profile by The Motor master

Moving Violations summary by Depth Charge

The Stunti-Con Job summary by Strika

Trypticon Prison information by Sideswipe (with info on Mini-Cons)

Botcon 2011 summary (with images of the TFA toys from that convention)

IDW - For All Mankind

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab Surrendered to Skywatch

Hot Rod (unofficially Rodimus) - Sports Car

Bumblebee - Sports Car (former VW Beetle)

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Cliffjumper - Sports Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Ironhide - Van Killed by Skywatch

Prowl - Police Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Hot Spot - Fire Engine

Wheeljack - Race Car

Mirage - F1 Race Car

Blurr - Sports Car

Tracks - Sports Car Captured by Skywatch

Beachcomber - Buggy Captured by Skywatch

Hoist - Tow Truck Captured by Skywatch

Omega Supreme - Rocket, Base and Tank

Red Alert - Lamborghini Gallardo Emergency Vehicle

Brawn - SUV

Jetfire - Jet

Drift - Race Car

Sideswipe - Lamborghini Gallardo

Hound - Military Jeep

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Huffer - Truck Cab

Trailbreaker - Camper Van

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter

Silverstreak - Sports Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Blaster (Mentioned)

Silverbolt - Jet (Mentioned)

Windcharger - Sports Car (Mentioned) Captured by Skywatch

Gears - Pick Up Truck (Mentioned) Captured by Skywatch

Decepticon

Swindle - Military Jeep

Thundercracker - F22 Jet (former F-15 Jet)

Motor Master - Truck Captured by Skywatch

Breakdown - Lamborghini Gallardo Captured by Skywatch

Drag Strip - F1 Race Car Captured by Skywatch

Wildrider - Sports Car Captured by Skywatch

Dead End - Sports Car Captured by Skywatch

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt

Scrapper - Front End Loader

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Hook - Crane

Onslaught - Anti-Aircraft Truck

Tankor - Cargo Plane/Oil Tanker Captured by Skywatch

Spyglass Captured by Skywatch

Megatron - Gun (Flashback) Thought to be dead

Starscream - F-15 Jet (Flashback)

Skywarp - F-15 Jet (Flashback)

Human

Major Spike Witwicky

Corporal Joe Henderson

Campolongo

Kyle Pennington

Colonel Daniel Witwicky (Monitor Only)

Colonel Horiuchi (Mentioned)

Spike's "Special Friend"

Skywatch Personnel

Big Fight Scene Autobots

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Hot Rod - Sports Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Prowl - Police Car

Jazz - Porsche

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Race Car

Drift - Race Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Hardhead - Gun Mounted Personnel Carrier

Sideswipe - Lamborghini Gallardo

Sunstreaker - Lamborghini Gallardo

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Slag - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Big Fight Scene Decepticons

Megatron - Gun

Starscream - F-22 Jet

Skywarp - F-22 Jet

Thundercracker - F-22 Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Rumble - Cassette

Ravage - Cassette

Laserbeak - Cassette

Ratbat - CD Player

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train

Runabout - Pontiac Solstice

Runamuck - Pontiac Solstice

Scorponok - Scorpion Tank

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Storyline

About two years have passed since the events of All Hail Megatron and Earth has finally been rebuilt, and the Transformers, who are still homeless, have taken to hiding on Earth in plain sight, trying to help the humans as much as possible without revealing themselves.

Breakdown attacks a power instillation in New Mexico to feed himself and Skywatch, under Spike's control is sent out to intercept him. The humans arrive on the scene and use their new Crash Suits to easily take down the weakened Decepticon and he's forced into his car mode and mode locked by one of their new inhibitor devices. Prowl and Streetwise watch this from their own alternate modes, but Prowl can't stand watching one of his own kind being attacked like this, so he transforms and goes to help him. However Spike was waiting for this and has a secondary team capture Prowl as well. The area is cleared out with Spike taking Breakdown as his own car, Streetwise reports what happened to base.

Back at base the Autobots are working out what to do, with Wheeljack working on a way to reverse engineer the inhibitors and Hot Rod wanting to go rescue Prowl and any other Transformers trapped by Skywatch. Ironhide tells Hot Rod to have more respect, but Optimus allows him to lead a team, with Ironhide on it, to rescue Prowl. Later Hot Rod's team manages to rescue Prowl, but it's quickly realised that it was a trap and the group are attacked and Ironhide is killed. The other Autobots fight back and manage to escape, bringing Ironhide's body back to base, which Optimus mourns over. Optimus announces that he doesn't feel like he can command any more after his decision led to Ironhide's death, so he abdicates his leadership and turns himself over to Skywatch.

After a night off the grid Spike is told about the events of the previous night and that Optimus has surrendered himself to Skywatch. Back at Autobot HQ the Autobots try to work out what to do next and they decide to hold an election for a new leader, Hot Rod thinks it's a stupid idea and decides to leave, and several Autobots go with him to find a way off of Earth.

Spike informs his father about Optimus being captured and asks for him to be transferred to a more secure facility in case of another rescue attempt, but he denies the request and tells him they are keeping him there for the moment. The Autobots work out who have left the base for Hot Rod's group and begin their elections as well. Hot Rod and his team locate Omega Supreme and ask him to take them off Earth, but he refuses and says that he's staying until Optimus tells him otherwise. Nearby Swindle and his team of Decepticons have been spying on Omega Supreme for three months and decide to attack him now for his Energon supplies.The Decepticons attack, and Omega and Hot Rod's team fights back but during the fight Swindle and Hot Rod realise that they don't know why they're fighting any more.

Back at Skywatch Spike remove's the suppressors on Optimus and starts to talk with him (under heavy armed guard of course). Hot Rod and Swindle have called a cease fire and start talking, the two teams agree that all they want to do is leave Earth, so they decide to combine their efforts and build a ship together.

Back at the Autobot base Bumblebee has been named Autobot leader when a perimeter alarm is set off and Ultra Magnus arrives on the planet in his shuttle looking for whoever's in charge, Bumblebee says he's in charge.

Jetfire is annoyed at an old airbase where Hot Rod's set up his current base and Hot Rod asks him to use his scientific skills to try and reverse engineer the Suppressors so they can't be used on them any more, and to also help to restore any of the now liberated Transformers brought in, including some Decepticons.

Back at the Autobot base Ultra Magnus has started his investigations into Ironhide's death and Optimus Prime's "defection" and he asks Bumblebee to take him to Ironhide's body. At Skywatch Spike tries to get Optimus to talk to him and reveal some Transformer secrets, but he refuses to talk, he just wants to be a prisoner after all he's done. At the Autobot base Magnus can't determine much from Ironhide's body since it was moved, he asks to see Hot Rod as he was the mission leader, but Bumblebee tells him that he's left. Magnus starts questioning Bumblebee's leadership and Cliffjumper comes in telling him that something's happening.

Bumblebee tries to stop Blurr and some others from leaving the base, but they don't want to stay there and risk being either killed by Skywatch or arrested by Magnus so they head out to find Hot Rod. Magnus transforms and starts to look for Hot Rod as well, so he can ask him questions about Ironhide's death.

Blurr's team of Autobots are caught in a Skywatch trap and Blurr is injured by a mine, suddenly the team are attacked by the humans and have Suppressors planted on them, the whole team is captured, except for Blurr who manages to Super Speed away. Spike brings them into the Skywatch base and tells Optimus to start talking or else.

Thundercracker reflects on what happened to him after Skywarp shot him and he crashed back onto Earth, he was trapped in a ruined New York city and managed to slowly salvage parts to make a distress signal amplifier and waits, whilst waiting he finds a television set and hooks it up and starts watching it endlessly. After about 18 months Thundercracker is rescued by a small band of random Decepticons and is fixed up (into his new F22 body again), because he was a Seeker he was expected to lead them, but he couldn't, not after his betrayal before. He and the Decepticons wander around and eventually run into Swindle, who happily takes command of the group.

In the present day's Petrified National Park Hot Rod's and Swindle's teams are working on a rocket together and Swindle suggests that they go liberate some more Transformers, perhaps some more Constructicons or to find Breakdown, since they have the other Stunticons already. Swindle starts flattering Hot Rod by saying that some of the team are starting to call him "Rodimus Prime" as he's actually created peace, which even Optimus couldn't do.

At Skywatch Spike is getting worried since his father is due to arrive the next day and they've made no progress with Optimus yet. Ultra Magnus arrives at the shuttle site to interrogate Hot Rod over Ironhide's death, whilst there Hot Rod insists that he calls him "Rodimus Prime", Magnus compromises by calling him "Rodimus" instead, but he still agrees to talk to him. Magnus then says that since he hasn't got the appropriate licences etc he can't fly off Earth or build the ship, so it must be destroyed.

Magnus walks into the building site and sees all the Decepticons working with the Autobots, and notices Swindle, whom he goes after immediately, he tries to arrest Swindle but is stopped by Hot Rod. Magnus suggests that Hot Rod and his team are colluding with the enemy and could be performing treason, but they disagree and say that they'll defend their team mates if he tries to hurt them now. Magnus transforms and drives back to Autobot HQ saying that it's not over.

Thundercracker goes for a little flight and admires the humans after they've been able to rebuild an entire world in just 3 years (since the start of All Hail Megatron).

Eager for anything to show his dad and the chiefs Spike meets with Optimus again, with a camera and starts talking to him again, and Optimus explains that he knows why Spike doesn't trust him, since they were hiding on Earth for so long with no one's knowledge and Optimus then goes on to explain how hard it's been for him to go from the leader of a warring race to the leader of a race who have won a war and that he almost turned the humans into their new enemies to replace the Decepticons, which is why he surrendered, and that he hopes the Autobots can progress properly now.

Ultra Magnus arrives back at the Autobot base (after the events of the Bumblebee series) and Magnus conscripts the team into a raid team to take on "Rodimus" and his team. Spike goes out for a solo drive after talking with Optimus when he's suddenly attacked by the Stunticons, SPike fights back, but he ends up jumping out of Breakdown and into the water. The Stunticons rescue Breakdown and take him back to base, Spike reports this to base and calls for a pick up.

The rocket is almost finished but Swindle stops working to fix up Breakdown when Ultra Magnus and the Autobots roll into the area to arrest everyone. Rodimus asks Bumblebee if he learned nothing from his experiences with Horiuchi, Bumblebee tries to talk to Magnus, but he won't listen.

Swindle turns up and says that he has it sorted and reveals that he planned to kill all the Autobots and just take the ship for himself and his team all the time, then he has the Stunticons combine into the Gestalt Menasor, and tells him to kill Magnus first.

After rescuing Spike from the river a Skywatch jet is flying back to base when they see Menasor and Ultra Magnus fighting. The team recognise Menasor as a Gestalt like the one from New York (Devastator) and know they don't have anything on board to stop it, so Spike has them return to base again. Spike talks with Optimus in his cage and tells him that Ironhide's death wasn't Optimus' fault, since Spike was meant to be on base during the attack and that the lethal force shouldn't have been used. Spike asks Optimus to help them to take on Menasor, which he agrees to do, but he insists on being confined again afterwards.

Spike escorts Optimus to a Skywatch jet where he and some of his crew take off to the battle site (despite some of the humans not liking this idea). Magnus is almost killed by Menasor and Swindle starts to gloat..until Optimus air drops right on top of him and proceeds to attack Menasor, saving Magnus in the process.

The other Decepticons have started attacking the Autobots, but both sides are shocked when Thundercracker actually helps the Autobots with fighting off the Decepticons, and says that he always intended to honour his word. The Autobots all target Motor Master, as he's the one who's holding the Menasor formation together and they take him out, forcing the Gestalt to collapse apart. Skywatch arrives and Optimus surrenders again, leaving Bumblebee in charge again, and Bumblebee follows suit and doesn't offer a fight to Skywatch. Spike meets with Bumblebee and offers to help them out with their injured.

Later Spike meets with Bumblebee at their base and says that he understands now that the Autobots aren't evil and offers an alliance between the two teams, the Autobots will have a secure base with Skywatch, and some limited freedom to operate amongst themselves, but in exchange they have to help Skywatch out.

Magnus has been healed up and looks for Swindle, but is told that he escaped in the chaos, he then goes after Rodimus for his traitor charges, but Bumblebee tells him that he has no jurisdiction on Earth, and that Bumblebee is in charge here. Rodimus then steals Ultra Magnus' ship and head sout into space, leaving the other Autobots with their new allies.

Notes

• This story begins with a four page catch-up piece that shows a summary of what has happened in the previous comics, all whilst altering the character models to the new movie-based versions.
• The two page big battle scene features a battle that never happened, but is representative of pretty much all the main Earth-based battles so far
• Skywatch's extremely high-tech suits and technology is explained in the Chaos: Police Action story line
• Prowl's new self-sacrificial attitude is explained away in Spotlight: Prowl
• Despite starting to call himself Rodimus here, Hot Rod isn't officially renamed this until Chaos Theory
• Blurr's super speed is shown here as a sonic boom tunnel of sorts
• Between being attacked by Skywarp and being found, Thundercracker spent his time watching TV and started to love it
• Swindle has stolen the plans to Gestalt technology and used it on the Stunticons, it's odd that he hasn't used it on himself and the Combaticons yet though....
• The Stunticons aren't a perfect Gestalt (most likely due to Swindle having to do it quickly) and so are easy to defeat.
• It's not shown here, but due to the later alliance between the Autobots and Skywatch and some of them appearing, it can be assumed that all captured Autobots were freed after this story.
• The Tyrest Accord is still in effect even after the Decepticon's galactic invasion.
• Onslaught is seen amongst the other liberated Decepticons in issue 3 but isn't seen again until International Incident where he's happily with his team mates, so he might just be an error here.
• Breakdown's roof is removable
• Thundercracker's essential defection actually sticks throughout this whole story series!

My Thoughts

Art

The character models here are made to look like the ones used in the Movie continuity, sufficed to say this style wasn't very popular with the "Geewunners" out there (what is?) and even for me looked wrong in a G1 universe

Story

This story kicks off the 3rd major storyline and shows a restructuring of the Autobot's command structure and the early days of the Skywatch/Autobot relationship.

Continuity

Set after the events of All Hail Megatron, and is concurrent with the events of Bumblebee and Last Stand of the Wreckers. Swindle and Ultra Magnus having a hunter-prey relationship was established in Spotlight: Ultra Magnus. Hot Rod's story continues in Revenge of the Decepticons. Ironhide is "revived" in the Ironhide series.

Other

Drift's new character model is based on his (then) new Generations toy. Breakdown's character model is based on Sideswipe's Universe toy (interestingly Breakdown received a toy from that mold in his G2 colours at Botcon 2010 as well), Red Alert has his Generations mold as well, Silverstreak is in his Universe mold, most other new character models from All Hail Megatron have been carried over to here where appropriate as well.