IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #5

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part 5

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Assistant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Optimus and Megatron's ghost battle it out, the other Decepticon ghosts don't see the point in joining in with the battle, since they see the logic in taking up Optimus' offer to restore their bodies.

Starscream however, decides to try and get revenge on Venkman for capturing him earlier and attacks the Ghostbusters, the other Decepticons decide to join him, as centuries of entrapment has left them feeling blood-hungry and attack the humans as well. Soundwave is quickly defeated and captured, after deploying manifestations of his cassette minions, who explode after his capture. Shockwave is also soon captured, but Starscream, seeing that he can't win, flies away quietly.

Optimus manages to defeat Megatron's ghost, but the Decepticon winds up tumbling into Ectotron, and possesses his body. The possessed Autobot pummels into Optimus, who is unwilling to harm one of his own Autobots, and the Ghostbusters remember the mood slime they were given last issue, and remember that the mood slime can exorcise ghosts from their possessed victim. They have Optimus hold him down, and they pour it down his mouth.

Ectotron "vomits" and exorcises Megatron, who is mutated, and tries to jump into Optimus, so he can use him to control the Autobots and create a new Decepticon empire.

Ectotron however fires on the Decepticon ghost, and Megatron is captured.

Optimus decides to take the captured Decepticons with him, so they can perhaps give them new bodies eventually, but Ectotron reveals that he doesn't plan to return to the Ark yet, as he believes that there may be some more Decepticon ghosts out there, and he wants to go and capture them so they can be helped too eventually. Optimus okays the mission and wishes his soldier luck.

After fixing the things he broke, and repairing the real Ecto-1, Ectotron leaves the Earth and heads out to find more ghosts...seemingly unaware that Starscream is watching from the space around Earth....

The end?

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ectronymous Diamatron/Ectotron - Ecto-1 Replica

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft (Fantasy Only)

Jazz - Hovercar (Fantasy Only)

Sunstreaker (Fantasy Only)

Decepticon

Megatron Captured by the Ghostbusters, Taken to Space with Optimus

Soundwave - Lamp Post Captured by the Ghostbusters, Taken to Space with Optimus

Shockwave - Ray Gun Captured by the Ghostbusters, Taken to Space with Optimus

Starscream - Tetra Jet

Ravage Manifestation Destroyed when Soundwave was Captured

Laserbeak Manifestation Destroyed when Soundwave was Captured

Buzzsaw Manifestation Destroyed when Soundwave was Captured

Ghostbusters

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Egon Spengler

Janine Melnitz (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue marks the end of the Transformers/Ghostbusters crossover event for both franchise's 35th anniversaries. However the end hints that a sequel may be in the works
• Despite how it looked earlier in the series, neither Soundwave nor Shockwave turn red when they get angry or fight, but Starscream and Megatron both do.
• Winston mentions GI Joe as a franchise, meaning they don't likely exist in real life in this continuity (unlike in the 80's Transformers series...)
• The grid effect used when Megatron possesses Ectotron and when he gets captured is based on the same one used when he is converted into Galvatron in the 80's movie 
• Megatron's mutated ghost form, after in-possessing Ectotron, is based on his Aligned counterpart.
• Despite them actually appearing earlier in the series, neither Wheeljack or Grimlock are shown in Megatron's fantasy
• In Megatron's fantasy or possessing Optimus, he sees Optimus with Megatron's fusion cannon on his arm, and what appears to be Decepticon insignias on his shoulders (I could be wrong, since they are quite small though)...good disguise Megs...
• Ectotron gains his nametag here! Now he looks more like his actual toy, yay!
• Ectotron's ship, finally seen at the end of the comic, is revealed to be based on the Lifepod shuttle from the G1 cartoon (the episode Dark Awakening to be exact) 
• The ending's "Ectotron will Return..." is based on the tag made popular from the end credits of the MCU movies

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #4

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part Four

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Following the discovery that Starscream has escaped, or released from his ghost trap, the team as well as their Autobot allies relocate to their warehouse facility in Red Hook, where they store their extra vehicles and equipment (mostly so the Autobots can have more room to walk around). 

Whilst there, Optimus fixes his graffiti, by taking on a Ghostbuster-themed colour-scheme, and admits that he still doesn't believe in ghosts fully, but does trust his Autobots in their judgements. Ray and Winston upgrade some proton packs to be "Autobot-sized" so their new allies can help them to deal with Starscream and any other similar problems, and before-long, Egon has detected Starscream's PKE signature again, so the crew head out.

The team soon arrive at Long Island, where they quickly find Starscream at a power plant, who is happy to see Optimus there, with the latter being shocked that ghosts are actually real!

The Ghostbusters fire on Starscream, intending to trap him again, but the Decepticon calls for help, and Kremzeek arrives, stopping the proton streams. Starscream tells his master that he has brought Optimus to him, but Kremzeek retorts that he didn't want Optimus, but the Allspark, and proceeds to absorb Starscream inside of himself.

Kremzeek starts to monologue, explaining that he turned the Decepticons on Cybertron into ghosts to have them aid him in finding the Allspark, the Cybertronian artefact that gives life, which he wants for himself, but all the Decepticons, bar Starscream, refused to help, so he absorbed them too.

Using the monologue against him, the Ghostbusters and Autobots fire proton streams at Krezeek, but he uses a lot of energy to break free from them, he attacks Optimus, but is too weak to simply disintegrate him, like he did to the Decepticons, so he attempts to kill him manually, so he can absorb him, and learn the location of the Allspark, once and for all.

The Ghostbusters and Kremzeek try to find out a way to help Optimus, when Ectotron reveals that they left some traps, including the one holding the electrical being they captured earlier, and some mood slime. The crew release the energy being, who is immediately attracted to Kremzeek, due to him being made of electrical energy too. As soon as the two touch, they both de-stabilize and explode...

However, with kremzeek gone, the Decepticon ghosts he stored inside his body are released, Optimus offers to still use the Allspark to grant the Decepticons new bodies, so they don't have to continue in this unnatural state, but Megatron refuses and intends to continue the war forever. Optimus disconnects the Proton pack from his Ion Blaster, and attaches it directly to his arm, unleashing a proton energy-fuelled energy axe, stating that he is tired of their long-since-over war, and declares that he is not afraid of ghosts....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ectronymous Diamatron/Ectotron - Ecto-1

Decepticons

Megatron (Ghost)

Starscream - Tetrajet (Ghost)

Soundwave - Lamp Post (Ghost)

Shockwave - Ray Gun (Ghost)

Ghostbuster

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Egon Spengler

Janine Melnitz (Mentioned)

Other

Kremzeek, the Scavenger Destroyed with Killerwatt

Killerwatt Destroyed with Kremzeek

"Kremzeek's Children" Presumably Destroyed with Kremzeek

Gozer, the Traveller (Mentioned)

Notes

• Optimus Prime takes on his crossover toy colours this issue, we even see his ectoplasm splattered trailer briefly too...guess that was a part of the paint-job too...or Optimus went on a bit of a ghost kill-spree on the way to Long Island...
• He mentions that he changes his colours by using "Nanochromatic Camouflage", which he claims could have just removed the graffiti he was marked with last issue. This is most likely the "official" name for Electronic Paint, first seen in Transformers: Animated, as it appears to have the same properties
• So...turns out, despite wearing Mara-Al-Utha's outfit, and the Quintesson themed markings in issue one, "Kremzeek" is actually...Kremzeek, an alien that acts as a scavenger following Gozer when he attacks worlds, and he creates little Kremzeeks as his "children" or minions....okay then!
• It's not mentioned, but it seems like one of Kremzeek's "Children" were the ones who broke Starscream out of his ghost trap.
• Also, we knew that Starscream was hiding something about the incident on Cybertron, but it turns out that he alone was working with Kremzeek in his mission, and the other Decepticons turned on him, and were absorbed into his being...I wasn't expecting that to be honest!
• Optimus references that the Decepticons used to monologue all the time. This is due to the series being based on the 80's Transformers cartoon, where it was commonplace for the Decepticons to monologue a lot. The Ghostbusters might not have this same experience, since this team is the one directly based on the Live Action characters, and not the Real Ghostbusters cartoon characters.
• We see some Mood Slime in a container this issue, which the team plan to keep in reserve. This was the pink goop from Ghostbusters II, the same move that Vigo came from, and we saw the painting of him last issue....HMMMMM?
• It's revealed that Killerwatt, the ghost captured last issue was actually NOT connected to Kremzeek...and was just a coincidentally energy-based, electrical ghost roaming around at about the same time as this adventure? Huh...

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #3

Title: Ghost of Cybertron, Part 3

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

At the Ghostbuster's Firehouse, Janine isn't impressed with Ectronymous, but not because she's afraid, she's just annoyed because she thinks he's going to cause damage that they'll have to fix themselves afterwards. She also outright refuses to call Ectronymous Diamatron by his full name, so gives him the nickname "Ectotron", which he reluctantly accepts.

Starscream arrives at the firehouse, where he is greeted by Janine threatening him with a proton grenade until the Ghostbusters inform her that she's "sort of" with them. Screamer gets annoyed so he goes upstairs, utilizing his new size-changing abilities. Venkman follows him, and sees him trying, and failing to kill another captive ghost, Slimer, and Venkman outright tells him that he doesn't trust him, and knows he's up to something. Starscream warns the human not to taunt him, when Venkman activates a hidden ghost trap and locks Screamer inside.

Downstairs, Venkman tells the others what he did, and they agree that it might be for the best. Ray repairs Ectotron's communicator (which just had a loose wire) allowing him to contact the Ark.

Behind the Earth's Moon, the Ark is waiting when they get Ectotron's communication, Optimus talks to him (and is glad that he got a shorter name) and is intrigued by Ectotron's findings on the planet and decides to come to the planet himself.

Wheeljack and Grimlock try to talk Prime out of going to Earth himself, but he insists on doing it, as showing faith in his followers is what makes him a great leader.

Back on Earth, the Ghostbusters get a job at a warehouse, and they need Ectotron to drive them there, with the promise that they'll be back to meet Optimus when he arrives.

Soon, the team arrive at the warehouse in Brooklyn, where Egon detects a signal similar to the one from the Kremzeek they battled before. Ectrotron wants to help out, so he takes a trap and starts modifying it.

Optimus arrives on Earth and takes on a truck mode, he heads to the Firehouse, but doesn't see Ectotron, so he does into a rest cycle...unfortunately some punks arrive and decide to graffiti him up...

At the warehouse, Winston and Venkman investigate but can't find anything, until Venkman flips a switch, releasing the ghost, Killerwatt, a GIANT electrical spirit.

They run outside, leading the spirit towards the others, and they try holding it in place with their particle beams, but they realize that the ghost is feeding on the city's power grid, prompting Ectotron to smash the power lines, weakening the spirit. The team use the modified trap and capture the electrical being, without the trap exploding this time!

The team return to the Firehouse, where they find the "decorated" Optimus Prime waiting for them, Venkman leaves the group to recover the trap he placed Starscream in, so they can get to business, but when he returns he is shocked to find that the trap is empty! Starscream has somehow escaped!!

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ectronymous Diamatron/Ectotron - Ecto-1 Replica

Grimlock

Wheeljack - Hover Van

Decepticon

Starscream - Tetrajet (Ghost) Missing after being Trapped by Venkman

Ghostbuster

Peter Venkman

Egon Spengler

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Janine Melnitz

Other Human

New York Punks

Mr Colchamiro (Mentioned)

Mr Avery (Mentioned)

Other

Killerwatt Captured by the Ghostbusters and Ectotron

Slimer Imprisoned by the Ghostbusters

Kremzeek (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Just like the rest of the Ghostbusters, Janine is not bothered at all by the appearance of Ectotron, showing just how much they've been through in their own series.
• Janine is the one who renamed Ectronymous Diamatron into the "Ectotron" from the toy, as she refuses to say an eight syllable name. A decision that everyone is happy with, even (reluctantly) Ectronymous himself.
• The portrait of Vigo the Carpathian, the main villain and haunted item of Ghostbusters II is seen in the entry-hall of the Ghostbuster's Firehouse.
• Starscream reveals that as a ghost, he has the ability to change sizes.
• The ghost in the containment chamber is the original version of Slimer from the first two movies, and is not the "cute" sidekick from the animated series'
• The firehouse has various ghost traps rigged into the walls, and most likely other things. This makes a lot of sense when you think about it!
• The Ark is revealed to have just stayed behind the Moon since dropping off Ectotron...why couldn't more Autobots have gone with him, if they were just going to stay in the area anyway?!
• Egon still refuses to accept that Ectotron and the Cybertronians are aliens.....WHY?!?!?!
• In a possible error, Janine answers the phone to a "Mr Colchamiro" but the order form states that their contact is "Mr Avery". It's possible this is the same person somehow, or there were two phone calls for orders made, or some sort of ghostly manipulation. But most likely they just changed the name between the scripting and artwork being made for the comic.
• Ectotron doesn't want to talk about the experience of having the Ghostbusters ride around inside him.
• In the car park where Optimus scans his Earth-mode we see the orange truck that he scanned in the original cartoon, but also the what appears to be the five vehicles the Stunticons were created from in the series too. Now, whilst we didn't see the Stunticons die last issue, I don't think these are them either. These are most likely either doppelgangers or actually the original vehicles that would have been stolen and converted in the originally intended timeline.
• The ghost this issue is Killerwatt, from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, though I think it's safe to assume that this version is another minion of Mara-Al-Utha 
• The graffiti on Optimus includes a load of references to Transformers and Ghostbusters (I won't go into them all here, but some are shown in the picture above)
• Venkman starts to make the old "Pessimus Prime" joke when meeting Optimus, until Ectotron stops him.

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #2

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part 2

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by:Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assisant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Ectronymous Diamatron explains who he is to the Ghostbusters, but is somewhat surprised that they don't seem too shocked at his appearance, but they explain that they've seen too many weird things in the past for this to shock them. 

He explains that he is on Earth looking for a Cybertronian signal, but the Ghost Trap is blocking the signal, so he needs them to deactivate it. Ray tries to explain that they cannot do that, whilst Egon tries to figure out what Eck really is, not believing the alien story, but Eck has enough of this, and shorts out the trap, freeing Starscream, who immediately goes on the offensive against the Ghostbusters.

Eck is shocked, since he thought Starscream was just a hologram before, but now he can tell that Starscream IS the signal himself. The Ghostbusters use their proton packs to hold Starscream in place, but Starscream calls for a truce when he notices Eck's Autobot insignia.

Eck approaches Starscream, cautiously, as he knows of his traitorous reputation and agrees to the truce, with Venkman holding a Ghost Trap as insurance to stop him from attacking again.

Starscream recounts how Gozer attacked Cybertron and tore through most of the Decepticon combiners and other forces, whilst Megatron and his inner circle watch on in terror.

Megatron refuses to escape the doomed planet, despite everyone else suggesting to do so, when a cloaked figure, calling himself Kremzeek appears and offers them an escape, without running away.

Megatron agrees to his terms and "Kremzeek" kills the Decepticon leader, but rebirths him as a ghost immediately afterwards.

Starscream explains that the same thing happened to the other Decepticons, but when they became ghosts, they were placed under the thrall of "Kremzeek", until Starscream managed to escape and made his way to Earth, and now he wants Eck's help to use the Allspark to give him a new body.

The Ghostbusters and Eck are unsure about the story, but before they can do anything, another "ghost" appears, a small Kremzeek minion. Starscream freaks out on sight of the tiny "ghost" so the Ghostbusters try to trap him, but the minion detonates the trap instead.

The team work together to ensnare the minion with the Proton Packs and use Eck as a conduit to short out his electrical field, dispersing the energy-based creature.

Eck, seeing this, believes part of Starscream's story and decides to contact Optimus Prime to see about using the Allspark to give him a body, but he notices his communicator is damaged, he can use the one in his ship, but only if he can get replacement parts.

The Ghostbusters agree to help him fix his ship, so long as they can get a ride back to the Firehouse with him, since their real car is broken down.

Starscream, happy with his work, smirks and quietly calls the group fools....

Characters

Autobot

Ectronymous Diamatron - Ecto-1

Scrounge - Wheel (Flashback Only) Killed in Gozer Battle

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Tetrajet Ghost

Megatron (Flashback Only) Killed by "Kremzeek", Turned into a Ghost

Soundwave - Lamp Post (Flashback Only)

Shockwave - Flying Gun (Flashback Only)

Bruticus - Combaticon Gestalt (Flashback Only)

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Flashback Only) Killed by Gozer

Predaking - Predacon Gestalt (Flashback Only) Critically Injured by Gozer 

Straxus (Flashback Only) Killed in Gozer Battle 

Hotlink - Tetrajet (Flashback Only)

Warrior Dropkicks - Cargo Disguise (Flashback Only) Multiple Killed by Gozer

Transport Dropkicks - Pick Up Trucks (Flashback Only) Multiple Killed by Gozer 

Dark Guardians (Flashback Only) Many Killed by Gozer

Other Decepticons (Flashback Only)

Ghostbuster

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Egon Spengler

Other

Kremzeek Minion Dispersed by Ghostbusters and Ectotron

Gozer/Emperor Starscream (Flashback Only)

"Kremzeek"/Mara-Al-Utha (Flashback Only)

Notes

• The Ghostbusters aren't too shocked by Ectotron, due to them already having dealt with a lot of strange things, and interdimensional beings, so a talking robot made from their car isn't that shocking any more!
• Egon says he cannot accept that Ectotron is an alien...but we know he knows about aliens...the Mars Attacks crossover wher ethey encounter the ghosts of some Martians happened in-continuity to this series!
• It's revealed that the Decepticons were not all killed by Gozer, at least some of them were killed by "Kremzeek" and turned into ghosts.
• In my character notes, I'll only put down "deaths" if they are shown in the comic, despite being told last issue that all the Decepticons died in the battle, since we don't know if they died from Gozer or "Kremzeek" right now (unless we do know)
• Bruticus is seen amongst the Decepticons, in the original cartoon Bruticus was created by Starscream during his mutinee on Earth (he did use existing brain chips for the Combaticons, but they should be imprisoned still at this point in time)
• the creature calling himself "Kremzeek" is actually Mara-Al-Utha, a banished Quintesson from the G1 cartoon in his Red Wizard disguise (though he does have a tiny Kremzeek on his shoulder too)
• Originally, Kremzeek was created by the Decepticons on Earth to eat energy for some reason in the G1 Cartoon, ever since then he's just been a mascot character, usually for Cybertronian beverages.
• From the way he's posed and aiming his cannon at Starscream we can probably assume that Megatron was the one who killed him, turning him into a ghost.
• One of the "bodies" Starscream possessed at one point was an F-15 Jet, his alternate mode in the G1 cartoon and toyline
• So it should be obvious to anyone reading this, who knows anything about Starscream, knows he is lying about what happened to some extent, we jus don't know what he's lying about yet.
• Ectotron mentions the Allspark being able to give Starscream a new body. The Allspark is a concept from outside the G1 continuity...so....this is interesting!
• The Ghostbusters mention defeating Gozer in the past, this happened during the original Ghostbusters movie.

IDW - Transformers vs Ghostbusters #1

Title: Ghosts of Cybertron, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Dan Schoening

Colours by: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Assistant Editor: Megan Brown

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

War rages on Cybertron, but seeing no way of winning, Optimus Prime leads his Autobots off the world and into space.

Normally, Megatron would have had his Decepticons chase the Autobots immediately to finish them off, but Gozer, the Traveler has arrived and informs the Decepticons that it intends to destroy their world. Megatron approaches to confront the destroyer, and it requests that he choose the form of the destructor, before he can though, Starscream, from behind accidentally has a thought of himself conquering Cybertron, giving Gozer it's new form.

Soon, a giant Starscream, in his emperor garb and wearing a necklace of his enemy's heads appears and attacks the planet, Megatron shoots Starscream for his stupidity and leads the Decepticons in battle against the monster, however they fail, and Gozer destroys the planet and all the Decepticons still on the world...

About a thousand years later, the Autobots are living on their ship, The Ark, when Ectronymous Diamatron detects a Cybertronian signal on a world called Earth, he informs Optimus, who agrees that this is intriguing, but he cannot send a team due to their limited resources and man-power, but does allow "Eck" to investigate it alone.

In Brooklyn, Earth, the Ghostbusters, a team of paranormal investigators and exterminators, look at their vehicle, the Ecto-1, which has been crashed into a large pot-hole in the road whilst on a job. As they leave to deal with the ghost, they don't see a sky-spy scan the Ecto-1 and a replica of it appears from the woods nearby.

At Prospect Park, the large squid-like ghost is lashing out at the Ghostbusters, but they manage to defeat it and trap it within one of their ghost traps and head bac towards the Ecto-1 to see if it can be repaired.

Whilst they are away, a pair of cops try to give the Ecto-1 a ticket for illegally parking on the grass, but it shoots the paper, burning it to ashes, leaving the cops to just leave it be...

Soon, the Ghostbusters return to Ecto-1, but are surprised to see two versions of it, one in the ditch, the other om the grass. Egon scans the area to see if there's something paranormal happening here, but gets some unusual readings.

Behind them, Starscream, now a ghost, appears and tells the Ghostbusters to leave, as he needs to speak with the Autobot, however the Ghostbusters simply shoot him with their proton packs and catch him within a trap.

Egon questions the strange readings, but Winston questions what the "Autobot" the robot ghost was looking for, when the Ecto-1 transforms and reveals itself to be Eck in disguise, shocking the Ghostbusters in the process! 

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime

Ectronymous Diamatron/Eck - Ecto-1

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Cliffjumper

Trailbreaker - Hover Van

Jazz - Hover Van

Wheeljack - Hover Van

Prowl

Ratchet

Ironhide

Brawn

Windcharger

Grapple

Jetfire (Imaginary Head on Starscream-Gozer Only)

Decepticon

Megatron Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Starscream - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer, Now a Ghost, Caught by Ghostbusters

Shockwave - Ray Gun Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Soundwave - Lamp Post Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Laserbeak - Cassette Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Thundercracker - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Skywarp - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Sunstorm - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Hot Link - Tetrajet Supposedly Killed by Gozer

Reflector

Ghostbuster

Egon Spengler

Winston Zeddemore

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Other Human

Frank, the Cop

Tim, the Cop

Other

Gozer the Gozerian

Zuul

Vinz Clortho

Quintesson Ghost Ghost Captured by Ghostbusters

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This mini-series is to mark the 35th anniversary of both the Transformers and Ghostbusters franchises...it honestly never occurred to me that Ghostbusters was 35 too this year!
• The setting of this series is the Ghostbusters main comic continuity, which has had a slew of other crossovers in recent years, though in this case, the Transformers seem to be from the same universe as them (unless the Ark travelled through a wormhole or something between their leaving the doomed Cybertron and the modern day.
• The Transformers designs and their back-story appear to be based on their Sunbow counterparts, though with some major differences (like Cybertron and the Decepticons being destroyed) but most significantly to me, the Autobots only travel for about a thousand years before approaching Earth, making their leaving Cybertron a LOT later than in the cartoon.
• In keeping with the Cartoon aesthetic, the Cybertronians are shown with their Earth bodies and vehicle parts, despite them having Cybertronian modes (As such, I'll not mention alternate modes in the character list, unless they are known from the cartoon or the comic itself)
• The main Cybertronian character in this series is Ectronymous Diamatron which is the "real name" of the crossover toy "Ectotron" released as part of the crossover's promotions. I will most likely be calling him "Eck" or "Ectotron" in my reviews though, as those are less of a mouthful :D
• Gozer and it's minion's designs resemble the forms seen in the original Ghostbusters movie, but more robotic in nature (including a scaling up to make Gozer the same size as Megatron)
• Eck uses the explicit "By Primus!" here, something that would NEVER have been said in the cartoon
• Eck hypothesises that the signal he located on Earth could be from a lost Cybertronian colony. A concept seen in the past in Cybertron and IDW's first G1 continuity
• The ghost the Ghostbusters fight off first appears to be a Quintesson Prosecutor, given we also see some Quintesson Judge heads on Gozer's temple earlier in the issue, we can probably assume they Quintessa was attacked and destroyed by Gozer too
• Starscream being a ghost has been an ongoing theme since the third season of the original cartoon.