IDW - Optimus Prime #13

Title: The Dead Come Home Part 1

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Throttlebots, who have been stranded on a planet they crashed on during the Decepticon's big surge that wiped out most Autobot outposts have lost all hope of survival. Their last contact told them that Garrus-9 had fallen, Earth was under complete invasion, and they assume that the Decepticons have won the war. Suddenly one day, whilst waiting for their own deaths, "Decepticons" appear from the chasms of the planet, who immediately kill Searchlight, and chase after the other surviving Throttlebots...

On Cybertron, Sideswipe is finally given a funeral following the events of First Strike, and it is presided over by Optimus Prime himself, everyone is grieving over their lost friend, brother or ally, and Optimus tries to console them. He is taken back when he learns from Arcee that Galvatron was her twin brother and she just let Optimus kill him in front of her. Before they can discuss it though, Optimus becomes conscious of the massive crowd gathering due to the Prime presiding over a regular funeral, so they leave to discuss this is private.

On the way to their privacy, Optimus almost runs over a "human", revealed to be Blackrock, who reports that Centurion, who has recovered from his injuries has contacted him from the wilderness of Cybertron, with an image of a protoforms. The Autobots are confused as Protoforms haven't appeared on Cybertron in centuries, until Swift appears and reveals that she and the Dinobots found them, and that Starscream has been keeping their existence a secret...

At the chambers of the Council of Worlds, the council discuss how they can deal with the alien city now tainting the core of the planet, but to no real avail. Elita wants to invade Earth in return for their invasion, whilst Starscream wants to try opening up talks with the Solstar Order for repercussions for them quarantining Cybertron during the invasion.

Starscream leaves the meeting, where he comes across Optimus and Blackrock, who confront him over hiding the existence of new life from them. Starscream explains it as him not having enough time to discuss it, since they've just been invaded by Titans and humans, but he leads them to someone who can help them locate them for themselves, since they have gone missing recently.

Starscream leads Optimus and Blackrock to a chamber where the thought-to-be dead Dinobot Slug is being held, who says he found Bludgeon messing with the protoforms and that he hired Sandstorm to kill him, and that the other Dinobots must have the protoforms. Optimus offers himself and Blackock to help Slug recover them.

In the courtyard, where the celebrations of Earth joining the council of worlds was being held, Pyra, Stormclash and Skyburst are walking the destruction, and dead bodies, when they encounter Arcee, who offers them to join her on Optimus' mission into the wilderness, but the conversation soon turns to how the war is changing all of them. Arcee believes that in peace there is no place for her, but Pyra counters that she has changed too, that during the battles Arcee refrained from using lethal force on the humans, whilst Pyra lost control, and that she believes Arcee's role is to reign in bots like her and Optimus, and keep them on the right track.

Soon, the team are tracking the Dinobots and Centurion in the wilderness, when they just find them. With Centurion pointing out that he called them, so they would find him. They begin to reunite, when Slug suddenly attacks the group, which includes Sandstorm, as he cannot believe his team would side with his murderer...

Back in Iacon, in a hidden chamber, Bludgeon is manipulating the situation with his Void Sceptre, all whilst Bumblebee's "ghost" is commenting that none of this is part of Starscream's plan...

Back on the Throttlebot's planet "Botanica", the team fight off the "Decepticons" but are overwhelmed by them and are taken down one by one. Before Goldbug can be killed, he tells his opponent to tell Megatron that they went down fighting, but the "Decepticon" has no idea who he's talking about.

The "Decepticon" is suddenly shot from nowhere, and Goldbug is shocked to be rescued by Prowl, Wheelie, Garnak and Stardrive, who appear to be recruiting them to help save the galaxy from these creatures....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Garrison Blackrock/Sovereign - Head

Slug - Triceratops

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sandstorm - Buggy/Helicopter

Goldbug - Car

Rollbar - Jeep

Chase - Car

Searchlight - Car Killed by Beast Army

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Wheelie - Car

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost" Only)

Sideswipe - Sports Car (Mentioned) Body Interred in Tomb

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Metroplex - Iacon City (Mentioned)

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned)

The Other Torchbearers (Mentioned)

Freeway - Car (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Wideload - Dump Truck (Mentioned) Killed by Sixshot

Decepticon

Swift - Helicopter

Bludgeon - Tank

Sixshot - Sixchanger (Mentioned) Presumed Dead

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Centurion - Luxury Car

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Knock Out - Sports Car

Obsidian - Stealth Osprey Helicopter

Elita One 

Mistress of Flame

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Bob, the Insecticon

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Roulette - Muscle Car

Gimlet - Lobster

Bump - Armadillo

Funeral Crowd

A Protoform (Image Only)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Antagony - Ant (Mentioned) Dead

The Titan Swarm (Mentioned) Dead

Beast Army

Cicadacon - Cicada Shot by Prowl

Sharp Edge - Saw Shark

Drancron - Lizard-Dragonfly

Hydra - Pteranodon

Other Beasts

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ian Noble/Action Man (Mentioned)

Ayana Jones/Mayday (Mentioned)

The Iron Ring (Mentioned)

Red Shadow Ninjas (Mentioned)

Other

Garnak

"Bludgeon's Master" (Mentioned)

Solstar Order (Mentioned)

Notes

• Oh wow, the title didn't lie! The dead really do come home today! Or....I mean the guys who either were near death or have been gone for a while anyway...First, the Throttlebots were last seen in Spotlight: Metroplex, where they were under attack from Sixshot and were abandoned on a planet by the titular character, Sunstreaker is shown to have survived his apparent death in First Strike, Centurion has woken up from his stasis lock, Slug is back to life after being killed by Sandstorm, the long forgotten Wheelie and Garnak reappear (they were last seen on Gorlam Prime's black hole precipice during Dark Cybertron) and Stardrive, who we learn in Shining Armor #5 left to be alone 200 years ago! WOW!
• The name of the Throttlebot's planet, Botanica, is a reference to the Beast Machines character of the same name.
• It is confirmed that Freeway and Wideload died from their injuries sustained from the fight with Sixshot, and also confirmed that Sixshot did survive his attack from Metroplex. But he apparently ended up dying during a fight with the Throttlebots later....suuuuuuure.
• Goldbug is shown using a pair of  walking sticks here. This is amusing since usually he's an upgraded version of Bumblebee outside of IDW, and Bumblebee has been shown with a walking stick for quite a while now.
• The guy who Optimus quotes during Sideswipe's funeral was Sentinel Prime...it seems safe to assume that he didn't acknowledge that himself due to the recent actions of the former commander...
• Amongst the funeral goers are the Colonist Autobot-recruits, except for Slide...wonder where she is?
• Optimus seems shocked that Arcee is Galvatron's twin....did he forget that major plot point in Alpha Trion's story about the formation of the unified Cybertron of the past?! It's possible that he just assumed that Trion was embellishing with characters they might know, but come on!
• Antagony gets name-dropped and is revealed to have died during the human invasion. This confirms the identity of the Transformer that Shazraella controlled during the event.
• It is briefly mentioned that Centurion was revived from his stasis lock when Merklynn's energy shot through Cybertron...implying that it lasted a couple of hours at best....
• It is also confirmed that the Revolutionaries are remaining a team, but Kup is staying on Cybertronian for the moment to help investigate New Prysmos at the core of Cybertron in the upcoming Transformers vs The Visionaries series.
• Arcee being relieved that Action Man is off the planet is likely due to his constant flirting with her throughout the Optimus Prime and Transformers First Strike tie-ins.
• The protoforms, and the Dinobot's involvement with them, along with Swift's knowledge of the events was covered in the "Dinobot Trilogy"
• Why is Mistress of Flame at the council meeting? She's not a member, Windblade is Caminus' representative. She was only filling in whilst Windblade was comatose following the Titan invasion. I can assume that Elita is present in Strika's place since she is absent in this issue, but Windblade is clearly seen.
• Starscream brings up how the Solstar Order owes Cybertron after they quarantined them during First Strike. He also alludes to how he knows the Order have the knowledge of creating a working Energon Synthesizer from the events of the Shining Armor mini-series.
• Marissa claims that 47 humans were involved in the attack on Cybertron....even if we assume all the Iron Grenadiers wee just robots...I'm pretty sure there were way more than just that number of Red Shadows on the planet!
• The size of the bodies under the sheets in the courtyard highly implies that the bodies the Torchbearers are dealing with are humans. We can't be sure if they are from the Iron Ring or innocents, but we did see Pyra willingly killing some Iron Ring members during the battle...
• The wilderness of Cybertron looks a lot different to usual now...this could be just because of the different artist from the last time we saw it, but more than likely this is a side-effect of Merklynn's energy surging through the planet.
• Bludgeon is revealed to still have possession of his Void Sceptre, and has learned to use it to control the Dinobots to an extent, as well as Trypticon. This is likely due to the Dinobots once being tainted by Trypticon's energon in the past.
• Bumblebee's "ghost" is shown to be monitoring Bludgeon...alone...without Starscream present...further adding to the idea that he isn't just a manifestation of his guilt.
• Bludgeon mentions "his master"...I wonder if he's involved in Scorponok's schemes from Lost Light as well?
• Since the last time we saw him, it looks like Prowl has lost an eye and one of his arms. His replacement arm looks somewhat like Megatron's mega-armour from the Chaos event.
• Stardrive is shown in her original pre-armour colours here, spoiling that she will remove her armour and return it to Rom in Shining Armor #5, which was released a week after this issue came out.

IDW - Transformers: Salvation

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Yesterday, Starscream sends Flatline and his team to investigate the new spark field in Alyon, and maintain them. Swift arrives and demands to know why the sparks have been kept a secret from the population, especially since Barricade died protecting them. Starscream points out that he is unwilling to allow new life to be born when the planet is still in a state of turmoil, citing that Swift ended up joining the Decepticons after exposure to them, pointing out that new life may be swayed either way, like she did. He also hides from her that someone has been to the field and taken some of the sparks...

That night, Starscream arrives at the secret prison, where he agrees to free Sandstorm from jail, in exchange for taking down the rogue elements outside of Iacon, namely the Dinobots and Bludgeon, which he agrees to...

The Dinobots arrive at Tyger Pax and locate another abandoned lab of Bludgeon's, inside they find a bunch of dead or dying Sweeps, along with some more of the mutated energon. Within moments however, Slug is fatally shot by a sniper, prompting the other Dinobots to go after the sniper. Not wanting to allow his death to be pointless, he sets fire to the mutated energon, and causes it to explode, finishing himself off, and leaving the Dinobots without a leader now!

Following this, the sniper, Sandstorm, arrives at Alyon, where he finds Bludgeon killing the team left by Starscream, and is soon knocked out too, but not killed. Bludgeon uses some of the sparks, along with those of his partially living Sweep troops and the now dead Badgeless officers to repower Trypticon, and reanimate the dormant giant.

Trypticon approaches Iacon, along with his flying monster minions. The Dinobots are tearing at him, but can't slow him down. Devastator is sent to fight him by Starscream, but even the powerful combiner can't stop the rampaging monster.

Starscream watches the oncoming chaos from the Spire, along with Swift, who suggests that the giant Decepticon is a distraction, and someone may be after the still secret new Hotspot in Alyon, but Starscream points out that his team is still there guarding it.

As if he's cursed, Starscream is proven wrong when Swoop arrives at the field, and finds all the sparks gone, and most of the team left by Starscream are dead, except for Flatline and a sniper, who blasts Swoop's wing off and goes in for the kill. Sandstorm asks Swoop what his team did with the spark field, but Swoop points out that they'd never harm the next generation of Cybertronians like that, and both of them agree that it must have been Bludgeon. They team up, and Sandstorm flies them both off towards Trypticon

Whilst Devastator goes for another strike outside, the Dinobots have made their way inside Trypticon, where Strafe locates his brain module, and recognizes it as a Titan's brain. She comments on this, and Bludgeon agrees that Trypticon seems to be a Titan, he reveals that he is using the Void Sceptre, a device supposedly created by Mortilus, to control Trypticon, and plans to use him to cause havoc, then make people believe he is dead by Spacebridging away, so he can use the sparks he has stolen to create a secret army to conquer the universe with. Outside, Devastator has been defeated, and crushed under Tyrpticon's foot.

Swoop and Sandstorm arrive at Trypticon and enter the giant Decepticon to look for Bludgeon and the sparks. Upon seeing him, and learning he was the one who killed Slug, the other Dinobots attack Sandstorm, until Swoop forces them to stop fighting and work together until after the sparks are safe.

Bludgeon looks at security footage and praises himself on his decision to let Sandstorm live, so he could either kill the Dinobots or at least distract them during his final plans. Bludgeon orders Trypticon to go in for the final strike on Iacon, thus forcing them to use their full force against him, allowing him to teleport away to begin his long term plans, and expand a Cybertronian Empire.

Luckily, the other Dinobots arrive at the control room, and manage to destroy the Void Sceptre, disabling Bludgeon's control on the Titan.

Before Bludgeon can do anything to retaliate, Trypticon accesses his Spacebridge and teleports Bludgeon just outside his house, and sets off a scorching flame, burning the Decepticon, and finally defeating him as revenge for his forced control.

Starscream is happy with this result, and has now convinced Swift that he was right to hide the sparks from the population, as the world is still a mess.

Inside Trypticon, the Dinobots prepare to get revenge for Slug by killing Sandstorm, but Strafe tries to get them to keep their peace. They are all shut up when Trypticon speaks up and announces that he is taking charge.

Trypticon marches down to the cavern where he was created by Mortilus, and curls up, allowing himself to be cannibalized by the new sparks, and allow them to be born from his body. Allowing the first war-free generation to be born, as the Dinobots and Sandstorm stand watch over them.

Elsewhere, Starscream has recovered the still barely alive Bludgeon, and strung him up in a lab, where he also has the dead body of Slug, and one of the surviving mutated sparks...wondering what would happen if he combined them.....

Characters

Autobot

Slug - Triceratops Killed by Sandstorm, Body stolen by Starscream

Swoop - Pteranodon

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Sandstorm - VTOL Helicopter/Buggy

Metroplex - Iacon City (Flashback)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Flashback)

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Trypticon - Battle Platform Sacrificed body to allow new life

Bludgeon - Tank Scorched by Trypticon

Flatline - Van

Swift - Helicopter

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned)

The Firecons (Mentioned)

Barricade - Car (Mentioned) Dead

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt Crushed by Trypticon

Badgeless Officers Many Killed by Bludgeon

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon

Sweeps - Space Shuttles Killed by Bludgeon

Newborn Protoforms

Cyber-morphic Predators Presumably Killed with Trypticon

Mortilus (Flashback)

Primus (Mentioned)

Jhiaxus - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Sandstorm's Victims (Mentioned) Dead

Titan Swarm (Mentioned) Dead

Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Other

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Solstar Order (Mentioned)

Notes

• This one-off comic acts as the finale to the "Dinobot Trilogy" preceeded by Punishment and Redemption. Though saying that, the end of this comic does leave another follow-up possible.
• Speaking of the Trilogy, all three issues were released shortly after and referenced the events of the "big event" for that year. Punishment was set just after Dark Cybertron and included the new characters introduced, Redemption was set after Combiner Wars and showed us some glimpses of the Torchbearers, and this one is set after Titans Return, and references the Titan Swarm and Trypticon being one too.
• Swift was last seen heading back to the Jupiter Sanctuary in the former Transformers ongoing series. Guess she got bored there and returned to Cybertron after a while. She may have been part of the rebuilding effort following the attacks from Sentinel Prime and the Titans however.
• Trypticon was most likely used in this comic as a partial advertisement for his new Titans Return toy, even referring to him as a Titan...then he dies at the end...good job Trypticon!
• It's revealed finally where Trypticon has been for the past few years. He joined in on the exodus from Cybertron following Thunderwing's rampage, but returned just before the planet was reformatted by Vector Sigma. When the planet was reset to it's original form, Trypticon was caught up in the energy and was buried under the surface, where people never noticed and simply walked over him. We saw him in this state in Redemption.
• It is mentioned that Trypticon was created as a rival Titan by Mortilus, Primus' rival, explaining his darker abilities. It is implied that following his defeat in Primacy he was properly recruited into the Decepticons by Bludgeon.
• Bludgeon plans to either destroy the Galactic Council or the Solstar Order first with his new army of Cybertronians. The prior is obvious, since they have attacked Cybertronians before. The Solstar Order haven't done anything to them so far though, but that could change when the Rom vs Transformers prequel series comes out.
• Maybe Strafe should call a Blacksmith to come from Caminus to help them with the formation of the new Cybertronians? It wouldn't hurt would it? They'd be more helpful than a bunch of bruisers with flamethrowers for mouths!
• Why did Starscream recover Slug's body with the intent of fusing it with the mutated spark? Doesn't he already have a closet filled with bodies? (We haven't seen one, but knowing Screamer, he probably does!)
• Swoop mentions that if they collect enough Sweeps then they may trade them for a Cyclonus...the joke would make more sense if they were trading for Scourge, the only named Sweep...

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: Redemption

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Slug argues with Aileron and Sterling from Caminus on the streets of Metroplex about the role of the Prime, and it almost comes to violence until Swoop distracts Slug and they wander off towards the bar.

At the bar, Slug quickly gets drunk and begins a brawl with himself and some of the former Decepticons in the establishment. Before long Barricade arrives with some Badgeless officers and arrests Slug for disturbing the peace.

Later, Slug wakes up in a cell after having a dream/memory about his days as a gladiator before the war. He is met by Barricade, who asks for Slug's help in escorting him and two Camiens, the politician Strafe, and his new girlfriend Swift to Alyon with a mystery cargo, without Optimus and the others finding out. Initially he refuses, but then Barricade brings out a case of Shanix, which quickly changes his mind.

Slug is soon released, where he meets with the other Dinobots and tells them his plan to rat out the Camiens and Barricade to the Badgeless so they can keep the money, not have to go to Alyon, and get rid of a corrupt cop and some aliens at the same time.

The next day, the Dinobots meet with Barricade and the others in the Decepticon District where Slug sneaks a look into the cargo they're transporting, and learns that it has some new Camien sparks inside it, and realises that the group are planning to re-seed Alyon with new sparks to help with the re-population, and it's obviously against Camien law.

On the road out of the city, Slug gets a pang of conscience and turns on the Badgeless, killing them along with the Dinobots, turning them into outlaws, but keeping Barricade and the Camiens out of sight, keeping them safe. One of the Badgeless reports the Dinobot's betrayal to command, before they are all gone, and the Dinobots leave, knowing they can never return again.

In the Sea of Rust, group are attacked by some half-dead Sweeps left over from the Chaos war, as Slug and Strafe begin to get to know each other. After a while, the Sweeps run off scared, due to the sudden arrival of the Victorion Torchbearers, who allow Slug and the others to go on their way in peace, however unknown to everyone, Bludgeon watches the scene from a nearby cliff with some more Sweeps in tow.

Later, the group arrive in the Preatorus Wharf, and are now attacked by some Turbofoxes with new weapons attached to their backs, during the short-lived battle however, Slug notices that the Tuirbooxes appear to be showing emotions, despite them being physically and mentally unable to do so naturally. After the battle, the small group continue on, unaware that the Badgeless are still following them.

Continuing on the way to Alyon, Slug reveals to Strafe that during the war he and his team took out a group of Decepticons, and discovered a trailer full of sparks inside that were planned to become new Decepticons, so Slug destroyed them all, not even giving them a chance to make the choice between good and evil themselves, something he has always regretted since.

The group reach Tyger Pax, which is now raining in the tainted Energon that once turned the Dinobots into monsters in the early days of the war. They're attacked by more Sweeps, and see some of them are quite intelligent and have feelings still, despite essentially being zombies. The Badgeless soon arrive and fight the Dinobots too. Slug has Barricade escape with the Spark trailer, but Barricade is cut down and killed by Bludgeon, who also destroys the Camien sparks.

Bludgeon injures Strafe, causing a wound that is soon infected with the tainted Energon, causing her to mutate into a two-headed dragon monster, as she declares herself a Dinobot and rejoins the battle, taking out more Sweeps and Badgeless.

Swift attacks Bludgeon, and knocks him off a cliff into a river of the tainted Energon, as payback for him killing Barricade. The Dinobots finish off the rest of their opponents

In the afetrmath, the group mourn the loss of the Camien sparks, but suddenly Swoop notices a glow from Alyon...the former hot spot has ignited itself again on it's own, showing that there is potential for new Cybertronians to be born after all. The group theorize that the intelligent Turbofoxes and Sweeps must have been given new sparks by Bludgeon from the Alyon hot spot. Swift wonders whether Bludgeon has tainted the new Sparks with his evil, but Slug tells her to give them a chance.

Afterwards, Slug lets Swift keep the Shanix that Barricade promised them for the job, and tells her to return alone, tell the people about the new sparks, and say that Barricade died protecting them. The Dinobots now vow to remain in the wilds of Cybertron, along with Strafe, who still thinks Bludgeon is alive somewhere, so she wants to finish him off for what he's done.

The five Dinobots all head off, and leave Swift alone with the money and her journey back to the city...

Characters

Autobot

Slug - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegoaurus

Tracks - Muscle Car

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Blurr - Race Car

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Bludgeon - Tank Knocked into Tainted Energon by Swift

Barricade - Car Killed by Bludgeon

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Cargo Plane/Truck

Waspinator - Wasp

Trypticon - Battle Platform Possibly dead

Blackwall (Flashback)

United Cybertron

Badgeless Officers Killed by Dinobots

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Camien

Strafe - Two Headed Land Dragon (previously Flying Car)

Swift - Helicopter

Aileron - Jet

Sterling - Car

Pyra Magna - Emergency Truck

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dustup - Sports Car

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Other

Bob

Maccadam's Patrons

Turbofoxes Killed by Dinobots

Sweeps Killed by Dinobots

Gladiator Pit Crowd (Flashback)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is set as a sequel to Punishment, and shws the impact that that story had on the Dinobots
• The first pages are also recreated from Transformers issue 45, setting the location in the time line very clearly! (A rare instance in a side-story comic!)
• The yellow leader from Caminus is named here as Strafe...I wonder if the red leader is Scorn in that case?
• The "loser" that Swift ran off with is revealed to be Barricade here.
• The Sea of Rust is explained here to be the remains of the area that the Crystal City was destroyed, and was most likely ruined to such an extreme by the black hole created by Shockwave.
• More of the Sweeps are found to have survived the reformatting of Cybertron....how did so many survive the Chaos war?!?
• Bludgeon's cloak appears to be similar to Megatron's one he used on Planet Junkion in Monstrosity, and Alpha Trion's during the Ironhide mini-series, so it is likely designed to protect him against the Sea of Rust's harsh conditions.
• Trypticon is revealed to have fallen in the Preatorus Wharf, and either went into stasis or died there. He was last seen fighting in the last stand on Cybertron, as shown in Spotlight: Blaster.
• Despite having the tainted Energon removed from their bodies, at least Slug retained the ability to turn into his monstrous form in the past.
• Strafe's Dinobot form is a reference to the new Dinobot introduced in Age of Extinction, but only in name and her having two heads. The AOE version was mostly blue, male, used a crossbow (on the toy) and was a flying dragon, rather than a land-based one here.
• Despite now having her "Dino-mode" Strafe appears to have her vehicle mode kibble as well...does this make her a triple changer maybe?
• Also, where did Strafe get her flamethrowers from? I doubt an energon-conserving Camien would have flamethrowers built into her body....
• And...how is Swift going to get back to Metroplex safely? She had issues flying in the Sea of Rust, and was injured during the fights with the Badgeless, Sweeps and Bludgeon....yeah...she may die along the way....