IDW - Transformers: Beast Wars 2022 Annual

Title: Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Written by: Sam Maggs

Art by: Lanna Souvanny

Title: Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Written by: David Mariotte

Art by: Phillip Johnson

Title: The Morphlings

Written by: Nick Marino

Art by: Andrea Bell

Editor: Jazmine Joyner

Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer

Letters by: Jake M. Wood

Skold's No Good, Very Bad Day

Skold decides that she is going to make this day go well, but I'd immediately assaulted by Terrorsaur, and pushed into a cell with Powerhug.

The other Predacons watch her, upset in the cell, on the security system.

Powerhug talks to Skold, and makes her feel better about herself, and is quickly decapitated by the Predacon, to use his circuitry to free herself from the cell, to the shock of the other Predacons, and the decapitated Powerhug.

Rhinox's Amaze-ing Adventure

Whilst out looking for fallen Protoform Pods, Rhinox ends up falling into a maze trap, set up by the Spider Predacons, where he also finds Waspinator, who was also trapped by the Spiders.

The two work together, and make it to the exit. Waspinator flies out, but leaves Rhinox behind to get out himself, much to Rhinox's annoyance.

The Morphlings

Whilst waiting for Optimus to return from a mission, the Maximals sit around a campfire, leading Cheetor to start telling a "spooky" story.

Cheetor starts telling a fan-fic about the Beast Wars cast, but kills them all off screen, except a few characters, before having them all killed or corrupted by small creatures called Morphlings.

Cheetor muses on whether his story could ever happen, with the others unimpressed.

Characters

Maximal

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Powerhug - Pill Bug Decapitated by Skold

Optimus Primal - Ape (Mentioned)

Fallen Protoform Pods (Mentioned)

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Waspinator - Wasp

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon 

Scorponok - Scorpion

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Fictional Characters

Megasavage

Servicons

Nightshriek - Bat Corrupted by Megasavage

Botanicus - Plant Killed by Servicons

Silverklaw - Bird Killed by Morphlings

Unnamed Ape Dead

Unnamed Spider Dead

Unnamed Rat Dead

Unnamed Cat Dead

Notes

• This special issue of Beast Wars presents us with some side stories set at uncertain points in the series. At the most, we can assume they are all set following Blackarachnia's introduction, but with the first one set before Terrorsaur's death.
• The Maximal Powerhug being on the Darksyde is never explained. Is he a prisoner? A corrupted Protoform that has just arrived there? One of the Children of the Vok? Does he die at the end of the issue, after Skold decapitates him? Why are the Predacons shocked at her killing one of their enemies?
• In the second story, we see Waspinator speaking like he does in the original cartoon, which hasn't really been a thing in this series this far. Also his dismissive nature in the first story COULD be out of character, but that was also just in Skold's imagination.
• The third story's fictional tale is, obviously, based on the Beast Machines cartoon, with all the characters representing characters from the show, but with the Defiance (the Maximal counterparts) being completely destroyed in this story.
• The only character to transform during the fictional story is Nightshriek, so it's not really confirmed if any of the others even can transform (I'd assume so though)
• The preview included in this comic is for the upcoming Beast Wars 16, which is actually two issues after this comic was released, spoiling that Megatron and Optimus escape their captures from issue 14.
• Among the character designs shown in the extra features is Amordillo, a character who has yet to appear in the series yet. Due to his electric green eyes however, I'm going to guess that he's a Child of the Vok who will be revealed before the finale.
• Interestingly, Optimus Primal never appears in this special, even as a cameo (assuming you don't count the Morphlings Optimus stand-in). Also, Dinobot doesn't even get a mention in any of these stories!

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 - Beast War #11

Title: Maximals Strike Back, Part 2

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

Megatron is alerted to the Maximal's attack on the Darksyde, and leaves the ship to join the battle, only to get quickly ambushed by Dinobot, who wants revenge for his ambush and injuries in the past.

With most of the Predacons out, Rattrap, Cheetor and Nyx sneak into the Darksyde for their own missions.

Cheetor finds and attacks Blackarachnia, while Nyx makes her way to the engine room, to try and disable it, when Tarantulas attacks her, leading the two to fight again too.

Rattrap eventually finds Megatron's room, where he locates the Golden Disk, but thinks it might be trapped in some way, so he spends some time analysing the device holding it.

Outside, the other Maximals are fighting with the Predacons, with the Maximals only going for non-killing blows. Eventually, Razorbeast explains this to his Predacons friend, Skold, and says that they just want to recover the Golden Disk, when he is launched into the air by Terrorsaur, who leads him to one of the strange floating islands nearby, and drips him onto some volatile Energon crystals, causing them to detonate and seemingly kill the Maximal, devastating Skold.

Whilst fighting with Dinobot, Megatron notices that he's favouring his right side during their fight, meaning he's still injured from the previous fight, giving him the edge. Megatron prepares to kill his former soldier, when Optimus appears, and challenges Megatron himself.

Whilst everyone else continues their own fights, Terrorsaur reappears to Skold, and starts belittling Razorbeast and herself, causing Skold to snap. She tears Terrorsaur's spark out of his chest, leaving his body limp and turning grey, discarding the spark afterwards, simply saying that she always hated him...

Afterwards Skold finds an injured Waspinator, and says that they just lost Terrorsaur. Waspinator misunderstands that to mean that the Maximals killed him, and decalres that he'll avenge their friend, but Skold doesn't correct him, thinking about Razorbeast....

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Dinobot - Velociraptor

Rhinox - Rhino

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Nyx - Bat

Razorbeast - Wild Boar Seemingly Killed by Terrorsaur

Predacon

Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Scorponok - Scorpion

Waspinator - Wasp

Tarantulas - Tarantula

Blackarachnia - Black Widow Spider

Skold - Alligator Snapping Turtle

Terrorsaur - Pteranodon Spark Torn from Body by Skold

Notes

• Megatron's rubber ducky appears to have regenerative powers, as it is shown healed from its destruction by the end of the issue.
• Okay, so after praising the series for not sidelining Razorbeast last issue, they seemingly kill him off this one...
• Terrorsaur's death is quite ironic too, since his new Kingdom toy is due out soon...I wonder if he'll come with a detachable Spark too?
• It's possible that Razorbeast and Terrorsaur could be revived in some way, since we've seen bots survive having their sparks removed in the past, and we never actually see Razorbeast getting killed, only an explosion...I think we may be looking at two of the Vok's future experiments...

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....