IDW - Transformers #22

Title: Rise of the Decepticons, Part 4: Prisoners

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Plot

Novastar's team battles it out with Sixshot, but the six-changer is far too powerful for them to handle, and it gets worse when Rumble and Frenzy free Quake from the electro net. Luckily for security though, Leviathan arrives and smashes Quake into the ground like a discarded toy. The Riser does manage to shoot the giant Cybertronian in the leg, causing her to fall directly on top of him. Knowing they're unable to win this now, Sixshot has Frenzy and Rumble retreat with hm.

Happy with having one of their top targets in custody, Novastar decides to let the other Risers escape for now, so they can also get aid for their injured team members.

News of Quake's capture spreads to Iacon quickly, and crowds begin to gather to witness the "parade" that Sentinel is having the prisoner go through before going into the prison itself, so as to show his dominance over the Rise and Ascenticons. Orion isn't happy with this idea as he thinks it'll go horribly wrong, but Sentinel is uninterested. Behind his back, Orion has Security line the streets along with some of Ironhide's Senate Guards to try and keep the likely attacks on the prisoner at bay. Whilst making these plans, Nautica contacts Orion to warn him that the dangerous Voin Asserter she and Road Rage had been escorting around Iacon has gone missing..

Elsewhere at his safe house, Bumblebee goes to a hole in the wall (caused when the Tether fell) to watch the prison parade, where he notices a lot of Ascenticons in the crowd, making him nervous.

During the "parade" Flatline works on Roughstuff's heavily damaged form, while Skytread has been working up the Ascenticons in the crowd, so they start to rush the parade platform carrying Quake, allowing the dangerous bot to escape, albeit still shackled and trapped in robot mode.

Quake manages to slip through the crowd, and down an alleyway, where he encounters the Voin Asserter, who sets his enslaved organics on the Riser causing him heavy damage, before Quake kills another Voin.

Bumblebee arrives in the aftermath, seeing Quake having been unshackled during the battle and jumps him from behind with a sword dropped by one of the dead organics, skewering his throat, causing a reaction that decapitates him and ejects his spark casing in the process.

Shortly afterwards, Stakeout and Smokescreen arrive, and although the recognise why he had to kill him, they need to arrest him for murder now. Bumblebee calmly accepts this fate, having gotten revenge on the bot who killed Rubble, but also knows his work isn't complete yet...Barricade is still alive, and his intel was what led to Quake murdering Rubble in the first place.... 

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces/Senate Guard

Sentinel Prime - Space Shuttle

Orion  Pax - Truck

Ironhide - Van

Stakeout - Police Vehicle

Novastar - Car

Springer - Car/Helicopter

Smokescreen - Car

Sureshot - Buggy
Windblade - VTOL Jet

Vibes

Bumper - Car

Roulette - Car

Pipes - Truck

Brawn - Van

Grotusque

Other Guards

Blades - Helicopter (Mentioned) Injured

Ascenticon/The Rise

Sixshot - Car/Tank/Jet/Winged Beast/Gun

Quake - Tank Killed by Bumblebee

Skytread - Tank and Jet

Rumble - Cassette

Frenzy - Cassette

Roughstuff - Truck Badly Injured, Under Repairs

Ascenticons in the Crowd

Soundwave - Hovercraft (Voice Only)

Megatron - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned)

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft Arrested by Stakeout

Starscream - Jet

Nautica - Submarine

Flatline -  Van

Leviathan - Metal Harvester Injured by Quake

Andromeda

Voxpop

Iacon Crowds

Rubble (Mentioned) Dead

Road Rage - Flying Car (Mentioned)

Beachcomber - Buggy (Mentioned) Injured

Hoist - Tow Truck (Mentioned)

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned)

Other

Voin Asserter Killed by Quake

Enslaved Organics Killed by Quake

Notes

• I know this is a common comment in this series now, but the main cover with the main female Risers really has nothing to do with this issue's plot, in the slightest.
• Despite being depicted as a friendly character, Leviathan is shown with red eyes and a mostly purple colourscheme, which is more evocative of a Decepticon design...wonder if that's a story-beat for the future?
• The two headed NAIL from early in the Robots In Disguise era of Transformers comics is finally named here as Voxpop. His gimmick is that one of his heads just says "pop".
• Ironhide's team is confirmed here to be separate to the main Security Forces, as they are specifically Senate Guards
• Despite how it seemed last issue, Roughstuff is still alive (but in a VERY bad condition)
• In Bumblebee's defence, I don't think Quake was going to survive long after his wounds fighting the Voin Asserter

IDW - Transformers (2019) #5

Title: End: The World In Your Eyes

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Anna Malkova, Angel Hernandez & Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Megatron gives another livestreamed speech about how the Cybertronian race is being stunted, which Soundwave estimates is being reached by over a hundred thousand people by the end of the cycle.

Elsewhere, Chromia receives a report from Sideswipe telling her that nearly two hundred Cybertronians have gone missing since Brainstorm died.

Prowl, in his office talks to his pet and realizes that he shouldn't be trying to find the Voin himself, but the people it was dealing with, so he can find the scavenger...

Elsewhere still, Rubble finishes another day of work experience with Wheeljack, when he gets a message from Bumblebee saying that he can't take him to see the Moon that day, as they had planned, but promises to do so another day.

Wheeljack reassures him that Bee must be really busy to abandon him like this, which Rubble seems to accept, and so he starts to walk home by himself...

Rubble heads through the Xeno-quarter on his way home, where he tries to remember all the names of the alien species, however he soon comes across a Voin Scavenger, who refers to him as "Small Cybertronian", just like the one he met the night Brainstorm died. He realizes that it must be the same one, and chases after him.

He soon loses the Voin, and plans to give up his search, until he sees one of his enslaved organices running away screaming, he looks where he came from and finds Quake with the seemingly dead Voin in his hands....

Bee enters an Energon mine, where he was due to meet with Elita-1, but instead Senator Soundwave appears instead, and plants a device into the ground.

Soundwave reveals that he is there to determine if Bee is really telling the truth in his desire to join the Ascenticon Guard, and outright says that he doesn't trust him, due to his security force past, and friendship with Autobots. Bee explains that he wants to make the world better for himself and his new protégé and believes the Autobots won't be able to give them that.

Soundwave explains that the device is an electromagnetic suppressor, meant to drown out communications and allow their conversation to go unheard by anyone...

Quake notices Rubble and deems him a spy, and gives chase, Rubble tries to call Bee for help, but can't get through to him, he does accidentally get ahold of Prowl though, and says he found the Voin, but that someone has killed him, Rubble is soon, unfortunately found and pummeled by the much larger and blood-thirsty Ascenticon, as Prowl listened on....

As things go black, Rubble remembers his earlier thoughts about how Bumblebee was wrong about Cybertron being a peaceful world....

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces

Chromia - Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Sideswipe - Car (Voice Only)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soudnwave - Hovercraft

Quake - Tank

Elita-1 - Jet (Mentioned)

Ascenticon Guard (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Rubble Possibly Killed by Quake

Wheeljack - Car

Gears - Pick Up Truck

Cybertronian Crowds

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Missing Cybertronians (Mentioned)

The Rise (Mentioned)

Other Aliens

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger Killed by Quake

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger's Slaved Organics Some Killed by Quake

Organic Pteraxadon

A'ovans

Skitter Being fed to Pteraxadon

Other Alien Species

The Thrall (Mentioned)

Akalouthans (Mentioned)

Notes

• Sorry this review is so late, my comic supplier forgot to mention that they were going on a trip whilst this was being released, so I had to reorder a copy earlier this week from somewhere else.
• Despite all the characters on the front cover of this issue, only three of them actually appear in the comic itself (and two of those are only for one page each!)
• I rearranged some scenes in this review to make the story recap flow better, since they skip between plot points VERY frequently this issue.
• This comic's art duties are divided up thusly: Malkova does the three one-page plot lines at the start of the issue, Hernandez deals with the Rubble story once again, and Pitre-Durocher deals with the Bumblebee plot line.
• This issue seemingly ends the first story-arc of the series, unless there is an epilogue next issue (otherwise the "end" in the title doesn't make too much sense)
• Megatron's dialogue confirms that Nominus was indeed a past Prime, and that he was responsible for the end of expansion (colonies etc) and the use of weaponry, which is most likely a part of the Nominus Edict mentioned throughout the series.
• Sideswipe reports that nearly two hundred Cybertronians have gone missing, in a previous issue we learned that they couldn't find a lot of the higher ups from the Rise....hmmmm.....
• Prowl's pet pteranodon looks quite like an organic version of the Battle Master Pteraxadon, could this be a pre-cursor to him? Or maybe he later cyberforms this cute critter into a machine?
• The green aliens that Rubble greets on his way home look sort of like the A'ovans from the Titan comics, considering he mentions having to pass it on his way home, we can assume these are indeed A'ovans
• I doubt that Bumblebee is really interested in joining the Ascenticon Guard, he is most likely joining them to go undercover for the Senate.
• Bee also reveals that he was expelled from the security force, wonder what happened there!
• Bee seems to imply that the Autobots are a political party (with the mention of voting for them) rather than just a faction like in the past. Is this a political drama in disguise?!
• Bumblebee theorizes that Soundwave's electromagnetic suppressor uses subsonics. We haven't really dealt with those since Steeljaw used them in RID2015...is Steeljaw coming back/being transplanted to this series?
• This issue shoes Quake, in heavy shadows looking mostly blue, just like the ghost hanging with Cyclonus said last issue...we may have found our killer here!
• Well...to be fair, we didn't see him killing the Voin in this issue, he may have just found the body...then went after Rubble to try and seemingly kill him right afterwards...it's possible!!
• Chromia mentioned that she linked her's and Prowl's communicators to Rubble's in case he needs help 2 issues ago.
• The last page of the comic features most of Rubble's opening monologue from issue 2 of the series
• So, this could be interesting! If, after showcasing Rubble and saying how great he is, they just kill him off by the end of the first story arc, then IDW are taking a leaf out of Transformers: Prime's book, with how they dealt with Cliffjumper. I love it!

IDW - Transformers (2019) #3

Title: The World In Your Eyes, Part Three

Written by: Brian Ruckley

Art by: Angel Hernandez & Cachet Whitman

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz

Plot

Following the attack on his rally, Megatron announces on a live feed that he has formed a new Ascenticon guard to protect himself and the rest of his people.

Chromia, watching from the security offices is horrified to see Quake amongst the new fighters, as he is well known for being unstable and hyper-violent, having been without a cause since the end of their wars a long time ago. Froid soon arrives and tries to get Orion to stop Megatron from using Quake due to his mentality, which Orion agrees to, if he is able to that is...

Orion Pax orders his security forces to continue their investigations and bolster their troops, in case things go bad.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee is showing off his alternate mode to Rubble and trying to get him to choose a form for himself to adopt, however, Rubble is distracted by the Winged Moon again, and watches as it closes up.

Bee, trying to reclaim Rubble's interest points out a larger Cybertronian to him named Leviathan, who roams the planet for ores to be processed into new bodies and materials for others to use.

Bee realizes that Rubble is stuck on the topic of the Moon however, and suggests that they go visit it again soon, and this time actually travel up the Tether to visit the Moon first-hand. Rubble looks excited, until; he suddenly ducks, as Windblade swoops in fast, almost knocking the two over.

Bee moans at his friend for scaring him, but she states that he is needed with the Senate for a meeting, and that she'll escort Rubble back to his home.

On their way to his apartment, Rubble worries that he's disappointed Bee by not being interesting in everything he's been shown, but Windblade rebukes that, stating that Bee is ecstatic to be his mentor as it is a great honour to be chosen to do so, and reassures him that Bee is just worried about Brainstorm's murder and that's all.

The two of them arrive at Rubble's apartment building, but are met by Chromia and Geomotus when they get inside. Chromia asks Windblade to help them with their investigation at the Transmission Station, as Froid doesn't like Geomotus to be around Prowl, as he is irritating. Rubble is left behind, but Chromia links his communicator with her's and Prowl's, in case he needs help with anything...

Outside, Windblade immediately realizes that Chromia placed a tracer onto the signal too, but she states that it's inactive, but can be turned on if they discover he is SOMEHOW involved in this incident....

In his room, Rubble believes that he can see a Titan in the sky from his balcony...

Elsewhere, Orion Pax opens a large set of doors and meets with a Cybertronian names Codexa, who is melding with the walls of the room, and he tells her that something is going wrong....

Characters

Autobot/Security Forces

Orion Pax - Truck

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Chromia - Car

Windblade - VTOL Jet

Ironhide - Van

Barricade - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Sideswipe - Car (Mentioned)

Ascenticon

Megatron - Treaded Vehicle

Soundwave - Hovercraft

Elita-1 - Jet

Quake - Tank

Skytread - Tank and Jet

Refraktor - Hovercraft

Other Ascenticons (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft

Rubble

Geomotus - Radar Mounted Rover

Froid - Jet

Leviathan - Metal Ore Harvester

Codexa Being Merged into Cybertron

Random Cybertronians

Cyclonus - Jet (Flashback Only)

Threefold Spark Army (Flashback Only) Defeated

Ancient Cybertronian Army (Flashback Only)

Sentinel Prime (Mentioned)

Nominus (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Wheeljack - Car (Mentioned)

Blurr (Mentioned)

Bee's Senator Friends (Mentioned)

The Rise (Mentioned)

The Senate (Mentioned)

Megatron's Attacker (Mentioned)

Mystery Prisoner (Mentioned)

Bee's Past Mentor (Mentioned)

Other

Aliens on Cybertron

Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Mentioned)

Notes

• Okay! Conspiracy time! My guess is that Megatron's "attacker" was a plant by him to try bring sympathy and legitimacy to his own faction, hence why the explosion hurt no-one, and the weapon's fire was stated to be too weak to harm him or anyone.
• Also, continuing from last month's theory, The Rise did kill Brainstorm, but they are also an off-shoot or allied faction to the Ascenticons, I'm guessing we'll get the answers by the end of this story arc.
• The named Ascenticon guards in this issue are all references to recent toylines. Skytread and Refraktor are from the Siege toyline (and are the trademark friendly names for Flywheels and Reflector). Quake is based on his Titans Return toy, and Elita-1 is seemingly based on her Power of the Primes body, but still with wings similar to her Timelines toy.
• Interestingly, if the characters are supposed to be in scale to their toys, then if Elita is based on the Timelines figure, then she's perfectly in scale with Skytread and Refraktor, but if not, then she should tower over them. Quake on the other hand, is way too big, possibly to make him seem more dangerous?
• Oh hey! It's Froid! This is the first IDW 1.0 exclusive character to make an appearance in the new continuity, and from the sounds of it, it looks like he's pretty much taken Rung's original role in the series, as a background psychologist who has concerns about the mental health of other Cybertronians.
• It's mentioned that there's a patient that Froid is not allowed to meet with, this is either a reference to his previous role, where he eventually helped a serial killer to find victims in IDW 1.0, or it is a hint at where Termagax is hiding (since she can't have died, since that would defy the whole premise of this series)
• A previous war before the peaceful era is revealed here, regarding something called the "Threefold Spark", and it's actions led to the Nominus Edict, which is implied to regarding the limitation of how many Cybertronians can be allowed to be born. All we know about them, is that they had a faction symbol.
• Cyclonus is seen amongst the ancient warriors against the Threefold Spark, continuing the recent trend of him being an old character, and not a creation of Unicron. He appears to be using his Combiner Wars character model in his brief appearances.
• Sentinel Prime is namedropped as the head of the Senate, a reference to his Aligned continuity counterpart...hopefully this one isn't a twat like Infinitus was....
• Bumblebee's alternate mode is revealed to be the winged hovercraft that he had in the first episode of the Transformers G1 cartoon....DOES THIS MEAN WE GET A TOY OF IT NOW?!?!
• Rubble sure does have a fascination with the Winged Moon doesn't he? Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye? Like maybe he's a recycled spark of someone who worked there, or maybe even Termagax in a new body/mind?
• This story shows us that Leviathan (and likely others) gather up ore to be used for the construction of Cybertronian bodies. This implies that the birthing process for Forged Cybertronians is different in this continuity, as in IDW 1.0 their bodies were made from the Sentio Metalica found around their Spark, not from a separate source...
• A piece of graffiti in the street on the way to Rubble's apartment states "Kill the Killers. Death to Hu-" with the rest being obscured by a removal laser. What the hell could that be about?!
• Also, adding to the constant note that this Cybertron isn't as idyllic as it may seem, the street mentioned above is VERY dark and dingy, especially when compared to anywhere else we see in this issue!
• The new character Geomotus is designed to be on the Cybertronina version of the Autistic Spectrum, which is why he needs his "shapes" to feel comfortable in unusual locations for him. Though, I'm not sure exactly why a geologist is needed in a murder investigation, I know they say that he can see "patterns" and things others cannot, but isn't that Prowl's whole shtick? 
• Barricade and Sideswipe are mentioned as being part of the security team. Barricade is obvious since his whole deal is being a cop, but Sideswipe's role here appears to be based on his IDW 1.0 counterpart, who had a security position in the early parts of Robots in Disguise.
• Codexa, one of the Cybetronians who have merged with the planet, but apparently is still alive, (which is disturbing to think about, since we saw Rubble climbing all over one a couple issues ago) is also shown to be at least 2-3 times the size of Orion Pax. This is the third larger Cybertronian we've seen this issue (Leviathan, Codexa and a random character Rubble admires in the street). Were Cybertronians just larger in the past or something? We're they downsized at some time in this mysterious history?