IDW - Beast Wars #12

Title: Maximals Strike Back, Part 3

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

The Maximals and Predacons continue their fights inside and out of the Darksyde.

Nyx manages to disable the Transwarp engine, and also knock out Tarantulas. Rattrap calls her for help when Megatron's room locks itself up, with him on the inside, having stolen the Golden Disk.

Outside, Cheetor manages to knock out Scorponok and handles Blackarachnia.

Skold, angry that the Maximals brought Razorbeast here, leading to his death, fights with Rhinox, who refuses to fight back, seeing that she is upset.

Dinobot gets attacked by Waspinator, wanting revenge for Terrorsaur's death, but Dinobot blasts him away.

Optimus and Megatron continue their battle, but when Nyx requests assistance in freeing Rattrap, he gives up on the rise, and finishes off Megatron, leaving him beaten down on the ground in shock.

Blackarachnia abandons the battle seeing her leader was defeated, and Skold gives up on her one sided fight with Rhinox...

Inside the ship, Optimus manages to free Rattrap, and they, aloh with Nyx, try leavib this ship, only to encounter a forcefield.

Megatron gloats that he'll keep them there until he can be repaired in a CR Chamber, so he can kill them all.

Unfortunately for him though, Optimus threatens to destroy the disk if he doesn't let them go, and without their Transwarp drive they can't even leave the planet. 

Megatron is forced to let them go, but swears to not rest now until Optimus is dead...

The Maximals head into the shuttle, where Rattrap reveals he made a copy of the contents of the disk, so they can study it too.

Later, Tarantulas has collected Terrorsaur's corpse, and starts experimenting on it...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Rhinox - Rhino

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Razorbeast - Wild Boar (Mentioned) Dead

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Dead, Corpse being Experimented on

Rhinox's Old Friends (Mentioned) Some Dead

Other

"The Ones Before" (Mentioned)

Muhammad Ali (Mentioned)

Notes

• The roll call page this issue has been updated with crosses over the Terrorsaur and Razorbeast, due to their deaths last issue.
• Megatron's beast mode head gets stripped of its artificial skin, revealing a head based on Animated Grimlock's
• Blackarachnia  comments that she may have to switch allegiances after Megatron lost to Optimus. Her switching sides was one of her major plot lines in the original Beast Wars cartoon.
• Rhinox references that he had friends amongst the Predacons back on Cybertron, including some he even loved. We previously have heard from him that not all Predacons are evil, and that the two factions have had working relationships for centuries. It's even possible that he was the one to have that Predacon transmission that was briefly mentioned early in the series.
• Megatron had a forcefield generator set up inside the Darksyde, inspired by the Maximals using theirs to keep them at bay earlier.
• Rattrap is shown to have made a copy of the Golden Disk for them to analyse. This must have happened when he lingered in Megatron's room after retrieving it.
• Tarantulas previously told Terrorsaur that he wanted him to stay in one piece, so he had more parts for his experiments. My guess would be that we'll see something like his Transmetal form come from these experiments.
• Terrorsaur's spark isn't seen with his body during the end scene, implying it either was taken (possibly by the Vok) or just simply extinguished without a body to house it.

IDW - Beats Wars #9

Title: Thicker Skin

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

The Predacons celebrate Blackarachnia's arrival and her corruption of the other pods, allowing their forces to rise soon. The fliers of the crew are sent out to hunt for the pods, and Skold is annoyed when she's told she cannot help due to her lack of speed, so she leaves on her own.

After a search, Skold discovers one of the pods in a lake, and rescues it, which soon opens up to the Maximal Razorbeast coming online. The two meet, unaware that the Vok are watching them, and planning an experiment on them, the two opposing Cybertronians make quick friends, with Skold just happy to meet someone who doesn't treat her like dirt.

The two are soon attacked by a pack of Ironwolves, and Razorbeast is badly injured, forcing him into stasis lock, while Skold takes out the beasts.

Realizing that he'll die without help, and that the Predacons won't help him, Skold brings Razorbeast to the perimeter of the Axalon, where she delivers him to their care before leaving...

Befoe she can leave though, Dinobot points out to her that she seems more confident when away from the other Predacons and clearly is a good person, and says she should defect to the Maximal's like he did, but she pushes him away, disgusted at him for his betrayal.

The Predacon leaves stating that they will be enemies next time they meet, with Dinobot commenting that she won't have to wait long....

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rattrap - Rat

Razorbeast - Wild Boar Injured by Ironwolves, placed in CR Chamber

Panther (Flashback)

Rhino (Flashback)

Manta Ray (Flashback)

Art Admirers (Flashback)

Maximal Command (Mentioned)

Maximal Protoforms (Mentioned) In Stasis, More Than Half Infected by Predacon Code

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon

Waspinator - Wasp

Scorponok - Scorpion

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tripredacus Council (Mentioned)

Vok

Pakak

Tonrar

Tikaani

Other

Ironwolves Killed by Skold and Razorbeast

Multi-fin Fish Eaten by Skold

Notes

• This issue gives us our first Pod Maximal, and shockingly, rather than giving us a current toy character, like Airazor or Tigatron, we got Razorbeast!
• Razorbeast was one of the earliest Beast Wars figures released, but hasn't been in many pieces of media since his introduction. He was involved in the original toy comics that set the series in a modern day setting, but his most prominent roles were in the Gathering and Ascending comics by IDW. Wonder if he'll have a leadership role here too?
• Terrorsaur suggests that they should use their time travel technology to go back in time to defeat their enemies before they were even online, but Megatron denies this plan as it is dangerous to mess with their history like that. This is what Megatron did in the Beast Wars cartoon, as shown in The Agenda though...
• The Vok mention Mentors in relation to Cybertronians here, giving us more concepts from the current IDW mainline series, possibly suggesting this could be set in that universe's future?
• The Vok mention that they will experiment on some of the other pods before they open, possibly giving us an explanation for Transmetals, Fuzors and maybe even Fossilizers in this series.
• Skold mentions that she used to spend time admiring art in Iacon, showing that I'm this universe the city hasn't been replaced by Cybertropolis (unless the city is just very new during the Beast Machines storyline).
• Skold mentions that the Ironwolves are from Pferra, telling us that at least some of the strange creatures on this planet (that might not be Earth) have been brought here by some force, most likely the Vok for their experiments.
• Razorbeast's injuries will probably have him out of action for at least a couple of issues...hopefully he actually has a role beyond an extended cameo in this series any way....

IDW - Beast Wars #8

Title: Pod, Part 2

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

The Maximals receive an abruptly cut off message from Cheetor, calling for help, so they hunt him down in the halls of the Axalon, where they find him hung up in an Energon web, having been left there by Blackarachnia. 

The crew split up to hunt down the new Predacon, who is in the control room, trying to download the Axalon's database. Realizing that the Maximals are going to find her soon though, she cancels the download, and starts uploading a copy of her Predacon shell program to the still orbiting stasis pods.

Rhinox soon finds her, so she disconnects and starts the process to force the pods to descend, forcing Rhinox to stay behind to try and salvage their stranded crew members. He reports what's happened to the rest of the crew, who are still split up across the ship.

Eventually, Blackarachnia breaks out of the ship and tries to head to the Darksyde, but is attacked by Cheetor, though she tricks him into believing that she has set multiple traps in the Axalon, causing him to run back inside to try and save his friends...

Later, Rhinox reports that more than half of the pods have been affected by this code, which implants the most aggressive Predacon traits into the recipient, changing their loyalties in the process, and there is no way to know who is infected until they emerge from their pods, which are still descending.

Optimus now decides that this is too far, and declares that they are going to go after the Predacons more aggressively now...

Blackarachnia soon sneaks into the Darksyde, where she finds Tarantulas, who attempts to make her bow to him as his servant, but she states that command didn't go through on the code. Tarantulas still considers this a victory however, and plans to connect to the rest of the pods as soon as he can,but Blackarachnia simply tells him that she has wonderful news then....

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rhinox - Rhino

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Orbiting Protoforms 51% affected by Predacon code, all pods Descending

Predacon

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Waspinator - Wasp

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Notes

• Rhinox reports that just over half of the orbiting pods have been affected by the Shell Program code. This is somewhat ironic since the Kingdom toyline, which most of the character models this issue are based on, has much less Predacon characters than Maximals.
• Blackarachnia's plan to send the code to all the inactive pods and half being converted into Predacons is actually pretty similar to the plot of the Gathering, the previous IDW Beast Wars comic series, where Razorbeast corrupted Magmatron's code, which kept half of the pods as Maximals instead of Predacons.
• Blackarachnia's code was supposed to be cause her to be subservient to Tarantulas, but that part of it failed to upload, most likely due to Rattrap interrupting the programming last issue.
• Waspinator has a teddy bear that he sleeps with, and much like Megatron's rubber ducky, it has metallic details.

IDW - Beast Wars #7

Title: Pod, Part 1

Written by: Erik Burnham

Art by: Winston Chan

Colours by: Sidvenblu

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Supervising Editor: David Mariotte

Plot

Dinobot has been welcomed into the Maximals, and during his recovery time, following his previous beating from the Predacons, he is sparring with Optimus, and giving the crew intel on the other Predacons.

At the Darksyde, Megatron finally decrypts another part of the golden disk, but is shocked to see that it is part of a warning from himself, but it is corrupted before he can rewatch it.

The other Predacons go on an Energon run as their stores are running low, and they split up for the job.

In orbit, one of the stasis pods receives a signal, and begins falling to the planet's surface.

Blackarachnia soon wakes up from the pod, and starts exploring the area, after beginning a download of a code update that she has been sent.

The Maximal explorer manages to get away from a crocodile creature, and detects a Cybertonian ship's signal nearby, so she heads toward it. She soon finds the Axalon and walks right through the protective shields, and intends to introduce herself to her fellow Maximals...just as the update completes and she becomes a Predacon!

The new Predacon hides in the corridor, having heard the Maximals talking in a room, soon, she is encountered by Cheetor, who just thinks she is a confused Maximal, until she shoots him with cyber venom, paralyzing him as he tries to call for help...

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah Paralyzed by Blackarachnia

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Scorponok - Scorpion

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon

Waspinator - Wasp

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Taranulas - Tarantula (Mentioned)

Other

Crocodile Creature Killed by Blackarachnia

Notes

• This issue marks the start of this series' second storyarc. It features a new art style, but this style is only planned to last for this arc, and will return afterwards.
• The character models in this arc are much more based on their Kingdom character models, where available, rather than the hyper stylised versions before.
• Dinobot is still scarred from his back stabbing from Tarantulas last issue.
• Dinobot's been added to the Maximal's safe passage list for the Axalon's shields, allowing him to pass through it, unlike last issue.
• Megatron briefly sees a message from himself from the future commenting that something will doom them all, but that the transwarp drive can do something to save them.
• Taranulas' tampering last issue is explained here. He was sending an update program to the Stasis Pods that uploads a shell program that turns the Maximal Protoform into a Predacon. We can assume that others were also affected, but most likely not all of them, since Tarantulas bwas interrupted by Rattrap, plus some covers have shown at least Airazor as a character in the future.
• The only real difference between Maximal and Predacon Blackarachnia are the colours of her eyes, green for a Maximal and red for a Predacon. However, her eyes are supposed to be black...
• Despite being mentioned a few times, him stabbing Dinobot, and his tampering being a main plot this issue, Tarantulas doesn't actually appear in the story.