IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #17

Title: The End

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Rhinox wakes up outside the Darksyde, where he finds the Maximals and Predacons fighting the Children of the Vok, with the latter clearly having the advantage due to their sheer numbers.

Through the battle, many personal battles and moments happen, until the Vok interrupt, and decide to kill all the Cybertronians due to their violent nature's (despite this battle being agreed to by them previously) and start disabling the Cybertronians, whilst preparing their reversion device to wipe out the planet's inhabitants, and start over again.

Meanwhile, Rattrap and Waspinator have been getting the Axalon's engines working, to enable it to fly at low heights, and Rattrap decides to weaponise the Transwarp engine since the Vok clearly seem to hate it.

Soon, the duo fly the Axalon to the battlefield and use their weaponised Transwarp engines to destabilise the Vok, seemingly destroying them.

In the aftermath, the Children of the Vok give up, seeing their gods as the monsters they truly were, and return to the wid, asking Optimus and the others to leave them alone.

Megatron takes the opportunity to attack Optimus from behind, but he gets blasted by Rattrap's Transwarp weapon. Since the Predacon isn't an energy monster though, he simply gets blasted a "few" cycles into the future, for them to deal with later.

Following the battle, Optimus offers the other Predacons amnesty and suggests they work together to get the Axalon working and return home to Cybertron, but they decline the offer, since without Megatron they would be used as scapegoats for his actions, since their crime was very public.

The Maximals leave to commence their repairs and to try and find Megatron, and the Predacons, now led by Blackarachnia, and joined by Inferno of the Children of the Vok, begin work on repairing the Darksyde, planning on using the Vok's weapon for spare parts...

114 cycles later, Megatron rematerialises in a cave, and begins plotting his revenge on the Maximals, and his plans to rule this world, now that the Vok are gone, and declares that the Beast Wars will not end until he wins, not noticing a large Protoform with an X on it in the cave too...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino 

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Cheetor - Cheetah

Nyx - Bat

Rattrap - Rat

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex Exiled into near future by Rattrap

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tarantulas - Tarantula On the Run from the Predacons

Zombie Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Destroyed by Rhinox 

Children of the Vok

Tigatron - White Tiger

Airazor - Falcon

Inferno - Fire Ant (Joins Predacons)

Polar Claw - Polar Bear

Saberback - Stegosaurus

Wolfang - Wolf

Cybershark - Hammerhead Shark

Armordillo - Armadillo

Snarl - Tasmanian Devil

Claw Jaw - Squid

Razorclaw - Fiddler Crab

Snapper - Snapping Turtle

Spittor - Frog

Transquito - Mosquito

Jetstorm - Dragonfly

Buzzsaw - Yellow Jacket 

Insecticon - Stag Beetle

Powerpinch - Earwig

Retrax - Pill Bug 

Vok

Pakak Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon

Tonrar Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon 

Tikaani Destroyed by Transwarp Weapon 

Other Cybertronian

Protoform X In statis Pod

Department of Justice (Mentioned)

Fallen Protoform Pods (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue marks the end of the IDW Beast Wars series. However the ending caption implies that the story may continue in the future, and even ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger...so...maybe the new publisher will be good to us?
• Dinobot mentions that the army gathered by the Vok are made from every other Protoform, but there doesn't seem to be enough for that to be the case, plus we clarly see the Protoform X pod in the cliffhanger.
• The new Children of the Vok we see this issue are made from the early figures of the original Beast Wars toyline.
• Polar Claw and Saberback are seen during the wide shots of the battle, but both of them died in issue 15...maybe they're just repaints?
• Something to note, the Children's eyes change from the green of the Vok to their normal colours after the Vok die, implying they may have been being mind controlled.
• We never learn who Tarantulas contacted on Cybertron...maybe it'll be picked up in a sequel series?
• Armordillo finally makes.his appearance, after being shown in the Beast Wars Annual...but he is just a one panel cameo, and possibly does offpanel from Megatron's blast.
• The floating islands around the planet are revealed to be weapons of the Vok's, the one shown here being a "reversion device", intended to wipe out all life from the planet, much like the Planet Buster from the cartoon. 
• This issue features a couple instances of fourth wall breaking, with the Vok wondering if another universe put their planet wiping devices on a moon and Waspinator commenting on how they can clearly hear the Vok, from outside the ship.
• Snapper appears in this issue, who was the basis for the new character for this series, Skold.
• Inferno joins the Predacons in the closing pages of this issue after losing his previous "queen's" (The Vok), much like he did in the cartoon, where he joined after his Pod was destroyed (he considered it his colony)
• Megatron got very lucky he wasn't transported a couple of cycles later, he may have rematerialized inside the wall of the cave he landed in. That would have been painful.
• The end of this issue includes letters from the main artist and writer for the series, which includes some hints at what plans for the series would have entailed, should it have had a longer life. (Though most of them honestly could still fit in a sequel series)

IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars #15

Title: Children of the Vok

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Ellie Wright

Letters by: Nathan Widick & Jake Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Optimus Primal and Megatron wake up in a cave, behind powerful forcefields, guarded by several unfamiliar Transformers, all of whom worship the Vok as god's, and order the other Transformers to either leave the planet, or go offline to stop tampering in the Vok's experiments.

After a while, Optimus figures out that the forcefields don't work when he is in beast mode, and manages to escape, forging a truce with Megatron to get to safety. The Vok witness this from subspace, and decide to test this new truce with an attack...

Outside, the two Transformers are ambushed by the Vok's followers, with Megatron quickly killing Polar Claw and Saberback in the process.

Soon, one of the Vok, Palak possesses the dead body of Polar Claw, and orders the fighting to stop, and demands for them to pay for all the damage they have done to the Vok's experiments. Optimus tries to explain what happened, and how they arrived on the planet by accident, but Megatron simply blasts the corpse of Polar Claw, to show that the Vok are not truly gods.

Unfortunately for Megatron, the Vok decide to reveal their true forms following this, terrifying the Predacon leader, and they proceed to attempt to snuff out Megatron's spark. Optimus stops them, stating that he needs to be tried for his crimes, and not just murdered, shocking the Vok.

Optimus suggests that they could learn more about the Transformers by having the Maximals and Predacons join forces to face off with their Children, which intrigues the curious gods, they give them seven cycles to prepare themselves, but neither group really believe the normal Transformers have a chance at defeating gods...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tarantulas - Tarantula (Mentioned)

Children of the Vok

Tigatron - White Tiger

Airazor - Falcon

Inferno - Fire Ant

Polar Claw - Polar Bear Killed by Megatron

Saberback - Stegosaurus Killed by Megatron

Vok

Tonrar

Tikaani

Pakak

Notes

• Still no sign of Armordillo, who was revealed in the Annual special backmatter...maybe he's just another one of the Vok's many kids?
• Optimus is shown to still be under the effects of the Red Energon at the start of this issue, but quickly gets through its effects within a couple of pages...was there really no point to that plot line?
• On the subject of the red Energon, the Vok are angry that the Transformers tampered with it in the first place...but they clearly left it in an open field, which must have been relatively close to the Predacon base...what did they think would happen?
• Joining Polar Claw and Saberback as Children of the Vok are Tigatron, Airazor and Inferno, The remaining three major characters from the Beast Wars cartoon's Season One, who haven't otherwise appeared in the series yet.
• The forcefields not working on Transformers in their beast modes is quite similar to the Vehicon scanners not picking up on the Maximals in beast mode in the Beast Machines cartoon.
• The end of this issue, with the Maximals and Predacons being forced to join forces to face off against the Vok, was spoiled in the preview for issue 16 in the Annual, which was released before this issue came out.

IDW - Dawn of the Predacus

Writer/Colourist: John-Paul Bove

Artist: Corin Howell

Letterer: Chris Mowry

Colour Assists: Ed Pirrie

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On Cybertron, in the last few days of the Great War, Blades reports from an new crater that Optimus Prime and his team have died. Prowl, Silverbolt and Ironhide accept his report and prepare their next steps.

Meanwhile, a trio of Decepticon generals, Ramhorn, Cicadacon and Seaclamp are experimenting on some more Decepticons from inside Unicron's near-dead head, still in orbit around Cybertron when they are informed by Tarantulas that Galvatron has been killed in battle. They receive a message from the new Megatron, who insists that they use this event to stage a full on attack on the Autobots, but the Generals refuse his plan, as they have their own ideas. Megatron cuts off the transmission, and ignores their plans, intending to attack the Autobots anyway.

The Generals, however need a cease-fire, so they can build up a new army, as at the moment the war will not end in their favour, so they make their own plans too....

At Nova Plenum, the current Autobot HQ, the remaining Autobot leaders are discussing what to do now, and who to have replace Optimus as their commander, when the last member of Unit-3 arrives, telling them that everyone in his team, including Perceptor was killed by Decepticons.

Soon a plan is decided, and they send a treaty envoy to meet with the Decepticons, led by Tigatron, hoping to use the deaths of both commanders to force a cease-fire between the factions.

The starship Axalon is returning to Cybertron after an expedition, and have been ordered to perform some orbital scans to try and locate any Decepticon cells.

On Cybertron, at the former Omega Spaceport, Megatron's team are approached by Tigatron's peace-team, but rather than accepting peace, he orders his Decepticons to attack the Autobots. Most of the Autobots are wiped out by the Decepticons, including Predaking. With the Autobots distracted, Megatron leads a team to attack the Autobots at their own HQ. Tigatron manages to escape, so he can help the others, but Airazor and the others are left behind, ready to die.

Megatron's crew infiltrate Nova Plenum, but are quickly attacked by Ironhide and the others, leading to Ironhide, Prowl, Silverbolt, Unit-3, and the newly returned Tigatron combine into Magnaboss, who pummel the Decepticons.

In orbit, the Axalon discovers the Decepticons working from Unicron's head, but before they can discover who is there, the head explodes, raining a strange substance to Cybertron. the substance, upon contact with any Cybertronian, forced them into a strange protoform state, effectively killing them, keeping them in a state between life and death anyway.

Preakind is concerned about what is going on, but the Generals arrive, and combine into Predacus, and they quickly kill Predaking, using his own sword to do it.

Everyone at the battle is confused about what is happening with the protoforms, but Tarantulas arrives and claims that this was a failsafe of Galvatron's in the event of his death to try and kill everyone on the planet, then claims that Predaking killed himself upon discovering this horror. Megatron disbelieves this, as Galvatron was once Megatron, and would never do this, and continues his attack on the Autobots. Tarantulas calls Ravage, and has him shoot Megatron, taking him down.

In the aftermath, the Generals surrender on behalf of the Decepticons, to the shock of everyone, especially the Autobots.

In the aftermath, the Pax Cybertronia is signed, and the past factions are disbanded, and peace is reborn again. The Predacons are named in honour of Predaking, and those who were affected by the protoform weapon are placed into statis, where Optimus Primal will watch over them, until they can be fixed.

Some past Decepticons are granted amnesty for their efforts of "peace" during the war, like Tarantulas and Ravage, whilst war criminals, like Megatron are stripped down in size and form.

But all of this was planned by the Predacus Council, who now use this era of peace to build up a new army, so they can get their revenge on the Autobots/Maximals…..

Characters

Autobot/Maximal

Prowl - Police Car

Ironhide - Pick Up Truck

Silverbolt - Concorde Jet

Tigatron - Sports Car

Unit-3 - Sports Car

Magnaboss - Autobot Command Gestalt

Airazor - VTOL Fighter Jet Turned into a Protoform

Blades - Rescue Helicopter

Hot Spot - Fire Truck

Lio Convoy - Lion

Big Convoy - Spider Tank

Air Hammer

White Propionica

Rest of Unit-2 Most Killed by Predaking

Optimus Primal - Rocket Car

"Rattrap" - Motorcycle

"Rhinox" - Front End Loader

Not-Cheetor - Convertible Car

Mainframe

Razorbeast - Motorcycle

Inferno - Fire Truck Turned into a Protoform

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned) Turned into a Protoform

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Perceptor - Microscope (Mentioned) Dead

Jetfire - Fighter Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Swoop - Pteranodon (Mentioned) Dead

Sunstreaker - Sports Car (Mentioned) Dead

Fortress Maximus - Battle Station (Mentioned) Dead

Springer - Rocket Car/Helicopter (Mentioned)

The Rest of Unit-3 (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon/Predacon

General Cicadacon - Fighter Jet

General Ramhorn - Drill Tank

General Seaclamp - Gun Jet

Tarantulas - Armoured Vehicle

Ravage - Sports Car

Predacus - Decepticon General Gestalt

Megatron - Two Headed Dragon/Car Captured and Downsized

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt Killed by Predacus

Waspinator - Fighter Jet Stomped on by Predaking

Terrorsaur - Fighter Jet

"Scorponok" - Hovercraft

Terradive

Buzzsaw - Fighter Jet

Drill Bit 

Manta Ray

Beetle

Snapper

"Dinobot"

Retrax

Bomb-Burst - Jet Being Tortured by Predacus Generals

Iguanus - Motorcycle Being Tortured by Predacus Generals

Megatron's Troops

Decepticon Experiments Being Tortured by Predacus Generals

Magmatron (Plans on Screen Only)

Galvatron - Laser Cannon (Mentioned) Dead

Megatron - Pistol (Mentioned) Became Galvatron

Other

Unicron's Head Destroyed by Tripredacus Council

Megatronus/The Fallen (Mentioned)

The Swarm (Mentioned)

Notes

• This was the comic released for the final Botcon in 2016. It was published by IDW instead of Fun Publications, but was never mass released (I had to get my copy by asking a member of the creative team to sell me one!)
• This story is set about 30 years after the events of the animated movie, setting it approximately in the year 2035
• This story is also slated to be set in the IDW Beast Wars comic continuity (along with The Gathering, Ascending and the Sourcebook, as well as the previously released Dawn of Future's Past). Now since there is about 300 years between the events of this comic and the events of Beast Wars, I won't point out any apparent continuity errors, unless they are extremely glaring, since they can be theoretically fixed in that missing time.
• The soldier who takes on the name "Unit-3" is based on the McDonalds Happy Meal toy "Under-3" which was a large lion face. His real name is not revealed though.
• Ironhide mentions how he died in the past. Considering this is in continuity with the cartoon this would be from when he was killed by Megatron on the Autobot Shuttle in the Movie. This also tells us, whilst unsaid here, that Prowl was also revived with Ironhide at some point.
• The fourth member of the Axalon crew is a repaint of Cheetor, since it was decided that he would not have been a part of the Axalon crew for over 300 years by the start of Beast Wars
• From his dialogue, it appears that Beast Megatron named himself after Megatronus (The Fallen), whom he believed was also the source of the original Megatron's name too.
• Despite him appearing quite prominently on the cover (likely due to him being a toy available at Botcon that year), Terrorsaur doesn't seem to do anything of note in this story
• Megatron is shown to be at least a triple changer in this story, with him showing his dragon and car modes here. If he follows his toy, then he'd be a decaformer, but I'm guessing that wouldn't be the case here....
• Unicron's head being destroyed here explains why it's not present in any shots of Cybertron during Beast Wars and Beast Machines.
• They aren't shown to combine with the Generals, but in case you didn't see the actual toys, the legs of Predacus are formed by Tarantulas and Ravage (the latter of which had only a couple of panels all together...)
• Amongst the victims of the protoform virus is Inferno, implying that he eventually becomes the insane Predacon of the same name during Beast Wars. Grimlock is also amongst the victims, but him being in the Axalon's care was shown to be confirmed in The Gathering.
• Similarly, amongst the Decepticon experiments appears to be Iguanus, another character who has been rumoured to be a G1 character turned Beast Wars character.
• The bot who would later become Dinobot in Beast Wars is shown watching over Grimlock's stasis pod. Implying that this is how he got the inspiration to take on this name.
• The Predacon being designed by Tripredacus Council at the end is Magmatron. It's unclear if this is a complete construction of him being shown, or him being modified from an existing character.
• Megatron being downsized, and having his body changed in this story's conclusion, brings him to what is pretty much his original body from the start of Beast Wars.
• Since this is supposed to be set in the IDW Beast Wars continuity, if we cannot see their alternate mode, I'll just assume it is the same as it was in those comics (pre-beast mode that is)
• The Maximal seen with Air Hammer, White Propionica is the pre-Earth version of Black Arachnia.

IDW - Till All Are One #7

Title: Desperate Measures

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Ironhide's troops are fighting the Titans on Cybertron's surface, as Windblade's team attacks Carcer, planning to try and convince him to help in the battle against the others. Starscream and the remaining council members are watching the action unfold from the Spire, and Starscream admits that he really does hope that Windblade succeeds, but feels like she wont, since heroes tend to die...

Devastator is tearing into Carcer's hull, but is soon confronted by an attack force led by Strika, who seems to be matched up to him in terms of strength.

Obsidian notes how the shuttles seem to be acting strange in the area, and orders for the nearby ones to be struck, in case of any infiltrators. The shuttle carrying Windblade's team is hit, and detonates, but Fireshot is able to get them out safely by having everyone hide within rubble, and crash onto the hull, leading to them making it into an airlock.

Inside the Titan, the team splits into two groups, one to reach the armoury, the other to the brain chamber. Obsidian soon detects the team heading to the armoury, and reports this to Elita, also reporting that Windblade is with them. Elita, assuming that this is Starscream's doing, leads a team to intercept them herself.

She attacks the team, and manages to clip Windblade's wing, and swatting the others away at the same time, she goes to finish off Windblade personally, but "Windblade" is revealed to just be Lightbright having used a holo-projector to disguise herself as her, much to Elita's distaste.

Windblade's real team arrives at the brain chamber, having avoided detection by going through the vents. Windblade prepares to interface with Carcer's brain, but is interrupted by Obsidian, who figured that something was going on, and reasoned that the brain was the better tactical decision for Windblade to go for, rather than the armoury.

Obsidian tries to convince Windblade that reactivating Carcer is a mistake, but she insists that he is needed for the battle. Obsidian unleashes his weapons, and opens fire on the team, who work together to disable the Carcerian delegate, allowing Windblade to link up to Carcer's brain, even as Obsidian continues to call for her to stop.

Windblade taps into the mind of Carcer, and manages to reactivate him, realizing too late why the Carcer crew refused to allow him to fight...he isn't really Carcer...he is the evil Titan Vigilem, who was loyal only to Liege Maximo....

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Blurr - Race Car

Metroplex - Iacon City/Space Ship Knocked Out

Bumblebee - Cybertronian Car (Ghost)

Ironhide - Van (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt

Metalhawk - Fighter Jet (Flashback) Killed by Starscream

Ironhide's Security Force (Mentioned)

Colonist

Tigatron - Tiger

Airazor - Eagle

Knock Out - Sports Car

Moonracer - Sports Car

Prime Breakdown - Armoured Van

Lightbright

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Carcerian

Elita One

Obsidian - Stealth Osprey Helicopter

Strika - Battle Tank

Lancer

Greenlight

Carcerian Troops

Other

Titan Swarm - Space Ships

Vigilem - Spaceship Carcer

Notes

• Despite being on the roll call page, and being mentioned as fighting the Titans, Ironhide doesn't actually appear in this issue
• Also, despite all appearances, Windblade doesn't actually appear on the issue cover. That's Lightbright in disguise.
• Starscream's getting a bit sloppy in his chats with Bumblebee's ghost. He does so in front of Airazor and Knock Out in this issue, with the former even commenting on it.
• Strika is strong enough to fight off Devastator....yikes!
• With the revelation that Carcer is actually Vigilem, the Titan mentioned to be loyal to Liege Maximo in the Revolution tie-in issue, it's quite likely that the former captain, who currently acts as Elita One's throne is ACTUALLY Liege Maximo's body!
• It is assumed that the secret device Sparkstalker gave Windblade was he holo-projector that Lightbright used this issue.
• All members of the Council of Worlds appear in this issue, except for Vanquish.