IDW - Bumblebee #1

Title: The Man with the Golden Car

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

David Reeve, an agent of P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. infiltrates an E.I.D.O.L.O.N. facility in Germany and makes his way to the office of their leader, Konrad Gotell, only to find him dead in his chair, and just manages to ump out of a window as the building explodes. He radios for his partner, Bumblebee, to catch him as he plummets, but he is instead "rescued" by the Decepticon Wildrider, whilst Bee is being chased by the German police in Berlin.

Bee soon makes his way to the captured agent and the Decepticon, and manages to smash the latter into the Berlin Wall, damaging it, and knocking out Wildrider in the process. Bee and Reeve drive away to return home to the UK...

After getting back home, Reeve heads to their disguised HQ, which fronts as a music studio, where Agent Lux informs Reeve that they haven't gotten anything from Wildrider, but thanks to footage from America they know he has been in contact with two other Decepticons, Runabout and Diabla, and thanks to a contact within Sector Seven, she also relays that the Decepticons are seemingly working for a human, which is concerning as it isn't their usual style.

Outside, Bumblebee is waiting for Reeve to return, when a limo appears behind him carrying the director of the agency, Pelham, however as the director leaves the limo, he is stabbed in the chest and dies. The limo races away, setting off a bomb at the studio, sending Bee flying. The Autobot gives chase to the limo, but is stopped by the Decepticon Diabla, with the limo also being revealed to be Runabout in disguise.

Inside the studio Lux and Reeve escape, after finding another agent there dead, but are encountered by the Decepticons, who throw Bee to the ground in front of them. The human agents fire on the Decepticons, but to no real effect. Bee tries to convince Diabla to change her ways, as she was once an Autobot, but she reveals that she was ALWAYS a Decepticon, and was just acting as a spy for Megatron when she posed as an Autobot.

Following this disaster, the agents and Bee drive away, with Bee using an oil slick to keep the Decepticons from following for now, much to their irritation.

Later, the group stop at a payphone, so Reeve can contact the "E.G.G.H.E.A.D.S." of their organization to figure out what to do. They inform him that they have been suspicious of a Decepticon spy within the studio for a while now, and are disavowing the three survivors until the spy can be identified...Reeve states that he understands and loads his gun....

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee/Agent Goldwheels - Aston Martin

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Diabla - Lamborghini Islero

Runabout - Rolls Royce Limousine

Wildrider - Shelby Cobra  Captured by PROGRAMME

Megatron (Mentioned)

PROGRAMME

Director Pelham Killed by a Dagger

David Reeve/Agent Omega Zero

Agent Diana Lux

Agent Parson Killed in Studio Explosion

EGGHEAD Agent (Voice Only)

Other Human

Konrad Gotell Killed by a Dagger

EIDOLON Staff

EIDOLON Operative 37

Berlin Civilians

German Police Force

London Civilians

"Human Big Villain" (Silhouette Only)

Sector Seven (Mentioned)

Queen Elizabeth II (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is very obviously a play on spy-themed movies/programmes like "James Bond" and "The Man from UNCLE", including the hi-tech gadgets, use of acronyms and the cheesy theme song.
• This is the first full-on comic series set in the Movie universe by IDW since the adaptation of "Dark of the Moon". Whilst it hasn't been stated anywhere, it seems likely that this was due to the disgusting amount of spoilers shown in the previews for that comic, which spoiled just about every major detail of the then upcoming film (Sentinel being on the Moon, him being evil, him killing Ironhide amongst others)
• Following the revelation in the movie "The Last Knight", that Bumblebee has been on Earth since at least World War II, we see a further adventure from him approximately twenty years before the upcoming Bumblebee movie, set in the 1980's
• Despite being majorly into Transformers, I've never been too interested in cars, so I had to use a combination of TFWiki, google searches and asking Andrew Griffith on Twitter for the types of vehicles the Transformers shown this issue turn into (I figured that would go over better than just naming them all "car")
• Lux mentions how the Decepticons working for a human is unusual behaviour. However, as we learned in "Dark of the Moon", several Humans have been made to work with the Decepticons for a future plot, so maybe this is alluding to that?
• I would not be shocked if it is revealed that the mysterious human villain is also the main human villain in the upcoming movie.

IDW - Spotlight Bumblebee

Title: The Question

Story by: John Barber

Art by: David Daza

Colors by: Zac Atkinson

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Editorial Assistant: Thomas Boeing

Plot

Bumblebee, Hot Spot and Groove are out looking for the Decepticons still hiding on Earth some where, but are getting nowhere, when they return to Omega Supreme Prowl isn't impressed, and orders Groove to join him on a mission to help him and Streetwise spy on Spike, ignoring Bumblebee's commands.

Bumblebee goes to talk to Thundercracker, who has no intentions of helping him, however during their discussions about a previous time they met, during the search for Metroplex they both realize that Megatron has somehow managed to copy Metroplex's space bridge technologies, and plans to use it to summon the Earth Decepticons to attack the Autobots. Thundercracker still wont help him stop the Decepticons from using this to overwhelm the Autobots, but he will give Bumblebee the data he collected on Metroplex in the past, so he can search for similar energy signatures.

Bumblebee visits his friend Sanjay Bharmaney and manages to locate the signature somewhere in America, Bumblebee heads out alone and finds the Decepticon army ready to receive Megatron's signal, Bumblebee goes to sabotage the Space Bridge but it activates and shows the Decepticons where he is. They get ready to tear him apart, but Starscream orders everyone but the Stunticons to enter the Bridge.

The Stunticons proceed to pummel Bumblebee (yay!) but Bumblebee jabs his cane into the Space Bridge's systems, making it overload and knocking out the Stunticons. Bumblebee later returns to Omega Supreme with the Stunticons in a net and starts taking charge properly and starts giving orders. Prowl's happy that Bumblebee has started acting like a real leader at long last.

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Muscle Car

Prowl - Police Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Groove - Police Motorcycle

Hot Spot - Fire Engine

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Omega Supreme - Tank, Base and Rocket (Rocket in Space)

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Mentioned)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Motormaster - Truck Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Drag Strip - F1 Race Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Dead End - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Breakdown - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Wildrider - Sports Car Defeated and Captured by Bumblebee

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Shockwave - Ray Gun

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Megatron - Stealth Bomber (Mentioned)

Other Decepticons

Human

Sanjay Bharmaney

Serena Bharmaney (Mentioned)

Spike Witwicky (Mentioned)

Other

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is set during the first part of Police Action, and during the Chaos event, showing what Bumblebee was doing during the storyline, which wasn't really shown in the earlier comics, and shows how the Decepticons got from Earth to Cybertron
• This story confirms that Megatron's (then) new body used some of Metroplex's design features to giving him Space Bridge generating properties
• Bumblebee gets the inspiration for his future electrical discharge cane here when he uses his can to overload the Space Bridge
• Dr Bharwaney from the Bumblebee Miniseries is renamed/misnamed here as Dr Bharmaney, and seems to have kept Bumblebee as his ally
• Starscream seems to have his Robots in Disguise body rather than his Earth body
• Due to the art style and coloring here I can't tell who all the background Decepticons are, so I won't even try

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)