IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #48

Title: Speak, Memory: Part 1

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Hayato Sakamoto

Coordination by: Phases

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long & Chris Mowry

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Skids is having another session with Rung, to try and uncover his repressed memories, whilst building one of his models. Skids recounts how he was captured by the Decepticons after the Simanzi Massacre and placed into a cell with an inhibiter device attached, however he starts to lose the details halfway through, so they call it quits

Skids prepares the leave when Ruing receives a visit from Froid, whom had be believed dead for some time now. The two reunite and Skids excuses himself, commenting on the new arrival's Primal Beads around his neck.

At the Medibay, Cyclonus sits next to an unconscious Tailgate, and Velocity marvels at how he wasn't killed by the multiple gun shot wounds he sustained. Megatron arrives and offers his apologies for striking out at Tailgate earlier, and insists that he'd never have actually killed the little Autobot (despite beginning to crush his neck). Rodimus explains that they discovered from Tailgate's mind (via Mnemosurgery) that Getaway and Atomizer set him up, and they've been arrested by Magnus in response. They also explain that Tailgate's energy wave actually managed to wake up Thunderclash as well, now all they need is for Tailgate to wake up too.

Back at Rung's office, Froid recounts how after he helped capture Sunder, a Mnemosurgeon who turned into a serial killer, he joined the prison transport ship that was taking him to Garrus-6, when Sunder escaped and took him hostage, they were believed to be killed when the shuttle they were in was destroyed. Unknown to the rest of the crew however, Sunder and Froid ended up on Scarvix, where Froid became a famous psychiatrist there, whilst helping Sunder get past the death of his accomplice and brother during the shuttle destruction. however, Sunder and Froid ended up on Scarvix, where Froid became a famous psychiatrist there, whilst helping Sunder get past the death of his accomplice and brother during the shuttle destruction.

After the story, Froid reveals the reason he tracked down Rung..he want's to look at his patient notes, which Rung vehemently refuses, due to both patient confidentiality, and of Froid's past of plagiarizing his work. However Froid threatens to reveal Rung's dark secret if he refuses...

Skids sits at the Oil Reservoir and continues to try and recall his memories again, where he recalls helping his new cell-mate Quark remove his inhibitor device, allowing him to transform between modes again. Skids explains that he learned how to do it whilst watching them construct one earlier due to his outlier skills. Quark suggests to keep his abilities a secret in case of being singled out by the Decepticons, when suddenly the commandant of the prison arrives at the door, and Skids recognizes the voice...before his memory starts to fail again.

Rung refuses the request of Froid's and he seems to take it well, but asks Rung to see him off the ship. Once they reach the shuttle bay, Rung is surprised to see some guards, until Froid shows him inside his ship...where Sunder is sitting in a cell, and has been writing words worshiping Mortilus on the walls. Rung claims this is wrong, and Froid is too close to Sunder to be objectional, but Froid throws that in his face by bringing up that Ruing got too close to a patient on a previous assignment, and was disbarred, however the ship was destroyed, so as the sole survivor Rung was able to pretrend it never happened.

Froid reveals that Sunder is able to feed on troubled memories and experiencing by using a rare Mnemosurgery technique where he can read minds just using his eyesight, so he had his eye's scooped out, and planned to use Rung's patients to feed him.

Suddenly, Froid is sent flying as Skids appears and shoots him away with his grappling hook. Rung tells Skids to leave, but Skids is confused as Rung himself called for him to come assist him, but that was before he knew about Sunder's skill. Froid takes this moment to reveal that his Primal Beads are actually Sunder's eyes, and gives them back. Sunder greets the two Autobots, and scans Rung's mind, shattering his spectacles in the process, then turns to Skids, unlocking his repressed memory...

Skids' cell opens up to the prison's commandant...the Decepticon now named Tarn!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Rung

Skids - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Tailgate - Car Unconscious

Kindle

Fervor

Riptide - Boat (Voice Only)

Quark - Electron Microscope (Flashback)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Flashback)

Getaway - Car (Flashback) Arrested

Atomizer - Car (Flashback) Arrested

Heavy Tread (Flashback) Detonated as a Landmine

Grindcore Prisoners (Flashback)

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (Mentioned)

Thunderclash - Truck (Mentioned) He woke up!

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Tarn - Tank (Flashback)

Flywheels - Tank/Jet (Flashback)

Stalker - Personnel Carrier (Flashback)

Skyquake - Jet (Flashback)

Wingthing (Flashback)

Glit (Flashback)

Dreadwind - Stealth Bomber (Flashback)

Ruckus - Baja Buggy (Flashback)

Octus - Dalek (Flashback)

Take-Off (Flashback)

Charger (Flashback)

Grindcore Staff (Flashback)

Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Froid - Jet

Sunder

Sceptre (Mentioned) Killed in Ship Explosion

The Senate (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Mortilus (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

Notes

• It's hinted in this issue that Skids losing his "faith" is somehow related to what happened at Grindcore
• Given Glit's medical background in their profile, it's likely the "cross on their back is the Decepticon's version of the medical symbol.
• It's revealed that Rung only collects models of ships that he's served on. This also reveals that Rung was SUPPOSED to be on the Ark-1, but was recalled last minute
• Froid is shown in full in this issue, showing that his design is VERY much based on Prime Sondwave, just with a Seeker-looking chest.
• The effects of Tailgate's spark-wave is revealed to have woken up Thunderclash from his coma, it's also probable that he also revived Cyclonus as well, since he miraculously survived being blasted by the security crew.
• Sunder is normally an Autobot cassette-bird...guess he's a very different character now!
• Rung appears to have a habit of polishing his spectacles when he's nervous, the last time he was shown doing it was after his therapy session with Megatron.
• Since we know Quark died in Grindcore due to that being Brainstorm's motives behind making his time cases, it can be assumed that Tarn will kill him to torment Skids at some point.
• Skids appears to recognize Tarn's voice at Grindcore. Since there'd be no reason he'd know a Decepticon by code-name, just by voice alone, it can be assumed that he know's the voice of the guy under the mask, who is most likely Roller.
• Tarn appears to know about Skids' outlier abilities, which was known to Roller as well, further adding to the theory.
• From their names, I can probably assume that Kindle and Fervor are the previously mentioned Pyrobots

IDW - Transformers Holiday Special

"Choose Me"

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Corin Howell

Colours by: Thomas Deer

"Silent Light"

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Kotteri

Colours by: Joanna LaFuente

"The Thirteenth Day of Christmas"

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Josh Burcham

Edited by: John Barber and Carlos Guzman

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Choose Me

On Cybertron, the Cybertronians and returning colonists are getting along great, but Starscream starts to get jealous, as he is still alone, except for the ghost of Bumblebee. However Bumblebee suggests that if he was kinder then others would like him.

Starscream takes this idea the wrong way, and decides to declare a new holiday for Cybertronians called "Chosen One Day" in which everyone has to give him a present to show they care about him. He has Rattrap deliver the message-video to Circuit and Longtooth to communicate to everyone, but they make a mistake, and cut off part of the message, and implies that "Chosen One Day" is where you give presents to ANYONE you want to show you care.

Soon, all of Cybertron and the colony worlds are taking part in the new holiday, except for Starscream who was given NOTHING. Starscream gets angry and plans his revenge when suddenly Wheeljack and several others arrive and surprises him with a party to say thanks for the great new holiday, and they gift him their friendship, until the morning anyway.

This pleases Starscream, and he decides to not kill anyone...at least not yet.

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Blurr - Race Car

Slug - Triceratops

Bumblebee (Ghost)

Decepticon

Waspinator - Wasp

Tall Tankor - Cargo Plane/Oil Tanker

Fat Tankor - Tank

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Onslaught - Anti-Aircraft Truck

Brawl - Tank

Vortex - Helicopter

Blast Off - Space Shuttle

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Mole-Rat

Circuit

Longtooth

Vehicon

The Badgeless

Colonists

Lightbright

Moonracer - Sports Car

Knock Out - Sports Car

"Aligned" Breakdown - Armoured Truck

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Airazor - Falcon

Cheetor - Cheetah

Dinobot - Raptor

Elita One - Car

Strika - Battle Tank

Obsidian - Helicopter

Carcer Crew

Other Colonists

Silent Light

Rodimus returns to the Lost Light after a three-day trip for a "Meteorfest" to find Megatron and Ultra Magnus setting up some strange devices around the ship, whilst complaining about how Brainstorm is busy messing with his conceptual devices (which has incidentally turned the devices in the ship into things resembling traditional Christmas decorations from Earth.

Magnus and Megatron tell Rodimus that the entire ship needs to be put to sleep so they can travel through some hostile space without being attacked, which is the reason for the signal dampeners/decorations.

At Swerve's bar Swerve, Nautica and Whirl are drunk, and ignoring the lock-in for the trip through hostile space. Suddenly they hear a knock on the door, panicking them that Magnus has come for them, however Whirl instead just finds some crates at the door, with a newborn Cybertronian protoform inside. The trio decide to send the Protoform to Luna-1 for it to be looked after properly through the Subspace Hatch, but they find it locked up in Magnus' office.

Before long, Magnus appears without his armour and asks why the trio aren't in their protective pods, they panic and Nautica hides the Protoform inside the Magnus armour, which suddenly activates and tries to hug Magnus, who is soon knocked out by Nautica with her spanner. They lose track of the Protoform and start to panic again, whilst also dragging Magnus to safety.

The Protoform, still inside the armour finds his way to Megatron, and proceeds to try and hug him, causing Megatron to freak out over his sudden touchy-feeliness, until he's saved by Nautica and the others claiming that he's just drunk.

Nautica and Swerve get into their protective pods, and Whirl says he'll take care of the Protoform, he plans to send it out the air-lock, so that the crew will be saved (since if it's detected by the Maulers the entire ship will be put in danger and there's no extra pods for it to go into) However when he sees that the baby has taken on features similar to his, he feels a strong connection, and lets it sleep in the pod with him.

Later, Whirl wakes up in the Medibay where Velocity reveals that the Protoform was in fact just the combined form of a swarm of Scraplets, who took the young Cybertronian form to trick the Lost Lighters into thinking it wasn't a threat before killing them all. Whirl reveals that he deprived energy to his own spark so that only the baby would be detected, keeping everyone safe.

If he was out for any longer then he would have died. Learning how he risked everything for a swarm of sentient pathogens, as it tricked him, he says that he's proud of his little friends...

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned)

Rewind - Data Slug (Mentioned)

Other

Protoform/Scraplets

Cerebros (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Maulers (Mentioned)

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

The Thirteenth Day of Christmas

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, Director Anna Log is sleeping in her house with her pet Turbofoxes nearby when suddenly Megatron blasts his way into her house, in a Santa-suit, and kills her and her pets.

The next day, December 38th, Thundercracker, a great detective and his assistant Buster receive word of the death of the Director and goes to investigate. Once there, they find some video footage of the murderer, and identify it as Santa Claus.

Thundercracker heads to the North Pole, passing some surfing penguins and Polar Bears drinking Coca-Cola and locates Santa's base of operations, but Buster's nose starts glowing red, which can mean only one thing...danger!

Suddenly Santa's mechanical reindeer fly up to attack the brave detective, but he easily defeats them, making his way to Santa's base, and engages the jolly, muscular human in a fist-fight. Suddenly Thundercracker learns that Megatron framed Santa, and all because Santa left him a lump of coal for being a naughty boy. Thundercracker punches Megatron and knocks him out, saving Christmas. Afterwards, Santa and Thundercracker fly off, using Megatron in tank-mode as a sleigh, led by the reindeer and Buster, and become the best of friends! The End.

Thundercracker finishes telling Faireborn and Jones his idea for a children's story book, but Faireborn is completely annoyed by all his mistakes and just how bad the plot was. Jones leaves with Buster, in her reindeer antlers, and leaves the other two to argue about it's worth.

Characters

Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Autobot

Beat Cop Arcee - Sports Car (Fictional Only)

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank (Fictional Only) Defeated by Thundercracker

Cameraman Laserbeak - Cassette (Fictional Only)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Director Anna Log (Fictional Only) Killed by Megatron

Fictional Cop (Fictional Only)

Other

Buster

Reindeer Robots (Fictional Only)

Two Pet Turbofoxes (Fictional Only) Killed by Megatron

Notes

• The front cover shows that Ravage has gotten Megatron a new fusion cannon...could this be a glimpse into his future?
• The art style and theme for "Choose Me" is based on Doctor Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• One of the colonists coming through the Space Bridge is based on the My Little Pony brand, I'd assume that she (he?) comes from Eukaris.
• Bumblebee's ghost is redesigned here to be more cartoony, with him also having Energon Cubes chained to himself, like Jacob Marley from "A Christmas Carol"
• "Choose Me" seems to be set before "Redemption", but after the conclusion of the "Windblade" series as Slug is still welcome in the city, and Elita One and the others are around.
• The Combaticons gift Onslaught with a new grenade...wonder if that will come up again with their plans to make Starscream pay for covering up Swindle's death?
• Despite the other representatives being shown at the party, neither Carcerian representative is at Starscream's party.
• A lot of the contrived Christmas imagery in "Silent Light" are based on mostly British Christmas traditions, like crackers, paper crowns etc.
• Rodimus has been to a "Meteorfest" a reference to his introduction to the IDW continuity on a flaming meteor during his Spotlight issue.
• The events of this issue takes place after the events of MTMTE 48, released the same day, based on how Magnus has moved the Subspace Hatch to his officer from the Medi-bay. This somewhat spoils a few character's survival from the upcoming part 2 for that storyline, which has been noted to include deaths.
• The Scraplets are capable of controlling the Magnus Armour...this is not explained...
• So the plot in this issue is that the crew all have to get to their "B.E.D.S" and sleep so they don't get noticed by someone on Christmas Eve...
• "The Thirteenth Day of Christmas" is Thundercracker's attempt at writing a children's Christmas story book....as this is the case it is a mis-match of many themes and mistakes.
• Strangely, this story is the only one of the three stories included here that is undeniably set at Christmas.
• I would say that Thundercracker added his understanding of Buster's language in for the story, but Transformers #48 actually DOES show that he understands the sweet doggy!
• Arcee wearing a police uniform really reminds me of the Transformers in human clothes from the Transformers Legends tie-in comics.
• Buster's glowing nose is a reference to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. She is also shown wearing reindeer horns when the story shifts to reality....N'AWWWWW!!!!
• Megatron being evil and using his fusion cannon in this story implies that he's a Decepticon in this "continuity"
• In case you missed it, Megatron is used as Santa's sleigh in the final panel of the "story book"

IDW - GI Joe vs Transformers #10

Title: Earth: R.I.P.

Written by: Tom Scioli and John Barber

Art, Colours and Lettering by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Following the destruction of Earth, the Oktober Guard plant a flag to claim Cybertron as "New Transylvania" and the Joes wonder if they should do the same.

Elsewhere, inside Trypticon the Cobras are started a meal in celebration of their victory (in blowing up their own planet I guess...) when Megatron enters the room, and disturbs everyone when he eats one of the GI Joe prisoners alive. In the aftermath the Cobras lose their appetites, except for Torch, who eats a chicken leg and immediately vomits up blood, and dies, having fallen victim to Roadblock's, their captured chef, poisoning of the food.

The Cobras attack Roadblock, but he manages to escape with Tunnel Rat's help, and enters the vents of the giant Decepticon. After a short crawl, Tunnel Rat leads Roadblock to Perceptor, who is revealed to have only been pretending to be a Decepticon, he places the two humans inside his refrigerated chest cavity, along with another body bag. Perecptor leaves, but is noticed by the Decepticons, and is chased for a while.

Soon, Perceptor and the two Joes arrive at the Joe's new HQ on Cybertron, the new Pit where they regroup. Once there, Perceptor reveals that Wild Bill was killed some time ago, despite his attempts to revive him at Trypticon. The imposter Wild Bill, Zartan, attacks some of the other Joes outside in a helicopter, but is stopped when Stalker kills him with a sniper rifle. In the aftermath Hawk has the Joes take Bill for a "real" autopsy. Using their combined knowledge following their separate times inside Trypticon, Tunnel Rat, Perceptor and Roadblock believe that they know how to disable his forcefield, allowing the Joes and Autobots to attack.

Elsewhere, Stormshadow and Snake-Eyes fight on one of Cybertron's mountainhorns when suddenly Stormshadow abandons the fight so he can rescue the still living Billy from inside Koh-Buru-Lah.

Inside Cybertron, Rodimus, his Autobots and their Joe allies approach the physical head of Primus, and head down inside the planet, where the Keeper teaches them about the origins of Cybertron, and many other planets by the Quintessons, at the bottom of the tunnel they find Optimus Prime being ferried across a river by Ultra Magnus....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Dead?

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Rodimus - Car

Metroplex - Slug Thing

Perceptor - Tank

Brawn - Van

Mirage - Race Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Dead, Corpse on Megatron's arm

Decepticon

Megatron

Trypticon - Battle Platform

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Scavenger - Excavator

Long Haul - Dump Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Devastator - Gestalt (Mentioned)

Confektor (Mentioned)

Random Decepticons

GI Joe

General Flagg

Hawk

Duke

Roadblock

Tunnel Rat

Wild Bill Dead

Skidmark Eaten by Megatron

Stretcher

Lifeline

Lady Jaye

Gung-Ho

Stalker

Psyche-Out

Bazooka

Cover Girl

Tripwire

Blowtorch

Steeler

Rock 'n Roll

Sandstorm

Dusty

Airtight

Lightfoot

Deep Six

Ozone

Wetsuit

Repeater

Beachhead

Leatherneck

Snow Job

Hit and Run

Freefall

Airwave

Scoop

Cold Front

Ambush

Quick Kick

Grunt

Torpedo

Recoil Killed by Zartan

Cross Country Killed by Zartan

Red Spot Killed by Zartan

Wreckage Killed by Zartan

Other Joes

Cobra

Destro

Serpentress

Zartan Killed by Stalker

Raptor

Road Pig

Ripper

Torch Poisoned by Roadblock

Zandar

Zanzibar

Copperhead

Cobra Commander

Nemesis Enforcer

Major Bludd

Storm Shadow

B.A.T.

Cobra Troopers

Oktober Guard

Colonel Breakoff

SHRIEK

Munchnik

Dragun

Denia

Horrorshow

Other Human

Snake-Eyes

Billy

Other

Koh-Buru-Lah

The Keeper

Primus
"The Makers"/Quintessons (Monuments)

Daiakuron (Mentioned) Split into multiple worlds

Unicron (Mentioned)

Notes

• So the Cobra guys actually trusted Roadblock NOT to poison their food?! REALLY?
• Speaking of which...what kind of poison makes you instantly spray blood from your mouth?
• Why does Megatron need to eat Humans?
• Wow Roadblock's kitchen inside Trypticon sure is well furnished....WHY?!?!
• Perceptor gives some Nazi-style salutes and marches when sneaking out of Trypticon.
• Somehow Flagg got off Earth before it was destroyed....oh yay, the crazy murderer guy is safe...
• It's very inconsistent on if the human characters need breathing apparatus on Cybertron.
• Cobra Commander and his off-shoot Cobra group were absorbed into Koh-Buru-Lah before the planet was destroyed.
• Billy is revealed to be codenamed as "Stormshadow II" and was trained by Stormshadow himself.
• Ultra Magnus' appearance here is in homage to Charon from Greek mythology, who rode the dead down to Hades.
• Ultra Magnus has a hammer here, much like his Animated and Aligned counterparts
• This comic includes a text story named Black Cybertron following Snake-Eyes and the Cassettes rescuing Soundwave from his "death"

Sig-Pub - Robots in Disguise #3

Notes

• No new comic this time again...honestly the main reason I'm doing this review is because most of my December comic orders haven't arrived still, due to the Holiday post period....sigh....
• The comic printed in this issue is a reprint of issue 2 of IDW's RID Series, it is renamed here as "Return of Team Prime"
• In fact, here's a link to my review of THAT issue: I don't want to write it again!

Other Features

"Transformers Pairs Game" Destroy the cover and create a tiny deck of "Pairs" cards

App Scan shield Get extra points for your RID App

Steeljaw Fact File

Draw Sideswipe Draw Sideswipe's alternate mode from the front view

Spot the Difference! Here's a hint...Grimlock disappears ENTIRELY!!!

Crappy half-size posters

Crossword Puzzle

Transformers Post You could win Mini-Con Deployer Drift...not bad actually!

Competition Time! You can win some One Step Changers!....nah....

IDW - Transformers #48

Title: Conquerors Part 3: Helden

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

D.O.C. encounters Buster, the resident dog of the EDC and Thundercracker's belovedpet, however due to her apparent lack of use, D.O.C. dismisses her as unhelpful. Thundercracker appears from the corridor and mistakes D.O.C. for one of the EDC's drones. D.O.C. uses some holograms to try and tell Thudnercracker what's been happening, but he fails to understand it's meaning. D.O.C. wanders off to try and find his friends, and Buster follows, and leads him into the kitchen area, where she uses a machine to dispense some dog food for herself. D.O.C. hacks into the dispenser and brings up a map of the facility, but finds a power source leading to nothing, so he decides to investigate it.

Buster alerts the drone that some humans are coming, and creates a distracting by peeing on the floor, allowing D.O.C. to hover away unseen.

Before he can get too far away however, D.O.C. is mistaken for one of the resident drones and is captured by a truck, who takes him away for some reason. Buster watches this, but decides that D.O.C. is her friend now, and wants to rescue him.

Buster heads through the base, and locates the truck, biting at the clamps keeping D.O.C. in place,a nd freeing her new friend, who now accepts her as useful and a friend too.

The dynamic duo go through some tunnels and find an empty room, off the grid, and notices the roof leaking with some "bad water". D.O.C. ignores Buster's barks and cuts a hole in the oof, and causes it to flood the lower floor too. D.O.C. and Buster swim up to the top of the "water" they find the captured Autobots restrained, being slowly dissolved, however D.O.C. manages to break their restraints and begins cutting open the ceiling again.

Thundercracker, Faireborn and Jones are running down the corridor to locate Buster and the "runaway drone" and find the floor being burned open, just before the Autobots escape. Before a fight can break out though, Buster and D.O.C. explain, with Jetfire and Thundercracker translating for the others, that they were found in a hidden room. Marissa had no idea about any of this, and figures that it must be all Blackrock's doing.

In Spike's cell, Blackrock keeps trying to get him to explain who he really is, and reveals that he wants Spike to do this because he knows Cybertronians better than anyone else. Spike suddenly twigs on and deduces that Blackrock is a Cybertronian in some way, which is why he has no past, or soul etc. Blackrock dismisses this, but the cell is suddenly broken into by the Autobots and EDC. Spike restrains Blackrock and Marissa takes his data-pad from him, revealing to her what he's been up to, including capturing the Ark in orbit, and spying on the world. She prepares to release the ship when suddenly Galvatron teleports in (with a now freed Skywarp) and confirms that Blackrock was planted on Earth by Onyx Prime to capture the Enigma of Combination for him, but now Galvatron wants him so he can continue his war against the Primes, before grabbing Blackrock, welcoming him as his Cybertronian brother....

Characters

Autobot

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Jazz - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Kup - Pick-Up Truck

Cosmos - Orbiter (Hologram)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier (Hologram)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Sanjay Bharwanay

Spike Witwicky

EDC Troops

Cybertronian

Garrison Blackrock Captured by Galvatron

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Nexus Prime (Mentioned)

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

Other

Buster the Dog

D.O.C.

Thrust-Dirge Clone Combiners - Jets (Hologram)

Notes

• Due to both main characters in this issue not being to talk "properly" we get specific panels with their language translated for us...it is quite hilarious.
• Also, when Buster is "in charge" of the story, the colours are somewhat more muted, due to dogs having a more limited colour-range.
• How did D.O.C. get footage of Soundwave and Cosmos on the Jupiter commune?
• Faireborn and Jones are dressed up in clothing similar to Lady Jaye's from GI Joe. In previous series' Jaye was Marissa's mother.
• One of the posters in the EDC rec-room says to "Visit Poverty Flat" that was the town that was caught in the middle of the fight between the Autobots and Decepticons after they returned to Earth following Dark Cybertron.
• It has also been "40 days" with no accidents. The last "accident" was probably when the Autobots attacked the EDC base and General Witwicky was killed.
• Human language to Buster is translated into anagrams of most words, with specific key words being unscrambled, such as "Hi", "Buster" and "Dog".
• We saw Jazz being slowly melted away by Blackrock in an earlier issue, but now we know all the captured Autobots are in that same pool as well
• Thundercracker can apparently accurately translate what Buster says....odd.
• If it is true that Blackrock is one of Onyx Prime's followers in disguise and under deep-cover, then this would explain how Blackrock was able to re-translate "Ark" as "Vanguard" in the previous issue
• Also, even if it turns out to be a trick of some sort, it now seems likely that the "Black Angel" that Blackrock mentioned before is most likely Onyx Prime, since his traditional appearance has wings, which could be seen as angelic, and the word "Onyx" even means black!
• Also, this issue implies that Onyx Prime still lives somewhere, since he more than likely planted Blackrock on Earth in the more recent past.
• Skywarp has been freed from the Nemesis...let's see if he stays that way now?

IDW - Sins of the Wreckers #1

Written and Drawn by: Nick Roche

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Arcee detects Prowl's signal on Earth, but suddenly it disappears, at the same time, Kup blacks out whilst riveting the bull of the Ark. Arcee manages to pull the older Autobot inside the ship, and questions why he passed out at the same moment as Prowl turned up. She's determined to find out what happened, so she orders Kup to unseal Prowl's old quarters, which Kup claims to be impossible, due to Prowl's extreme security measures.

Elsewhere in space, Impactor is watching over Guzzle, who has been locked into a crate to try and calm him down whilst at the Wreckers space station, Debris. Roadbuster joins him, taking a break from watching over Springer's still near-death body. The duo discuss how peace has essentially ended the need for the Wreckers, and all they are now is a group of baby-sitters for their leftover members. Impactor gets fed up of wasting his time, and takes Roadbuster elsewhere in the station.

Back on the Ark, Kup manages to quickly unlock Prowl's quarters, which Arcee grows a bit suspicious of. Soon the two Autobots locate some files mentioning Garrus-9, and find an image of Verity Carlo holding a copy of the Aequitas files, and threatening Prowl with releasing it. Kup explains to Arcee who Verity is, and correctly guesses that Ironfist made her a copy of the files before his sudden death on the way back from Garrus-9.
After the discussion, Arcee deems Verity a major risk due to her holding Autobot war secrets, and having the ability to send secret messages to the head of Autobot Special ops, but Kup doesn't agree. Soon, a hologram of Prowl appears in the room, having been left in case of his own disappearance, and asks for Springer to be called in to help find him. Arcee is shocked as she can't believe that Prowl trusts Springer more than her, despite them hating each other. Kup prepares to contact Debris, but Arcee knocks him out before he can, and heads out to confront Verity herself....

Somewhere, Prowl wakes up and soon finds himself in a place called the "Noisemaze" where he appears to be suffering from visual and audio disruptions. He's greeted by a shadowy figure, his apparent kidnapper.

In Nome, Alaska, Verity is sick with an unknown illness, and is almost attacked by a bear whilst travelling through the wilderness, however she is rescued by Stakeout, an Autobot assigned to protect her by Ultra Magnus following their separation. Despite his worries about her condition, Verity seems glad to see the Autobot, and allows herself to go into the back-seat of his police car mode. The two drive off, with Stakeout apologizing for not being with her for so long, but also reprimands her for trying to expose Prowl, and shattering their loose peace with the Decepticons. Verity claims that Prowl deserves to be punished for all he did, especially to her Wrecker friends, but STakeout points out that if she does release the information, then they died for nothing. Verity however, still wants to do this, before it's too late for her.
Before long, Stakeout is shot off the road by Arcee, who captures Verity and sword-point, demanding to know where Prowl is, before Verity passes out.

On the Ark, Kup manages to contact Debris, where he confides to the comatose Springer that he hasn't been to see him, because he doesn't know what he'd do, especially knowing that Springer would do anything to save him if their places were reversed. He then orders Springer to wake up, and cuts off communications.

On Debris, Impactor and Roadbuster are walking through the Wrecker monument and Impactor asks Roadbuster about letting Springer die with dignity, which starts an argument again. However this one is cut short when Hubcap, the station's new admin officer interrupts to tell them that Guzzle is over-heating his crate and will cause a fire soon. Suddenly the alarms hooked to Springer's life-signs goes off, alerting the Wreckers that he has no signs of life any more.
Roadbuster rushes to the medical bay, where he refuses to go inside, as he can't handle it, but Impactor forces him inside, where they find Springer...has gone...

Back on Earth, Arcee has taken Verity to an old warehouse where she interrogates her for Prowl's location. Verity admits to having threatened him due to him needing to pay for his evil acts in the past, but she had no part in him going missing, not that she's upset about it. Arcee threatens to destroy Verity's bag, which assumedly contains the Aequitas files (and probably medicine for her illness) unless she gives her Prowl, she gets interrupted however, when the Wreckers, led by a now healthy Springer, appear, ready to fix the problem.

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Springer - Rocket Car/Helicopter

Impactor - Tank

Roadbuster - Jeep

Hubcap - Car

Guzzle - Tank

Stakeout - Police Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle Trapped in the Noisemaze

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Mentioned)

Threnody (Mentioned) Dead

Crest (Mentioned) Dead

Hyperion (Mentioned) Dead

Ironfist (Mentioned) Dead

Rotorstorm (Name on Memorial) Dead

Rack (Name on Memorial) Dead

Pyro (Name on Memorial) Dead

Decepticon

Overlord - Jet and Tank (Mentioned)

Human

Verity Carlo

Other

Prowl's Captor

Polar Bear Injured by Stakeout

Sharkticons (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the sequel series to the hit series "Last Stand of the Wreckers" but also includes some lot lines carried over from the comics released since then (Such as Prowl went missing, and Arcee is in command of the Earth forces in The Transformers)
• The art style of this comic has a more muted colour palette than it's predecessor.
• Kup's connection to Prowl is more than likely due to his secret "Pretender" process that allowed Prowl to subliminally control the older Autobot. This was referenced before during Infestation, where Prowl was able to control the zombified Kup.
• Guzzle and Impactor were last seen working alone in space taking down residual Decepticon groups in the LSOTW Hardcover edition. Roadbuster was also noted as taking care of Springer in the same book, as well as Ironfist giving Verity a copy of the Aequitas files.
• Prowl's missing eye is due to the fight he had with Optimus, following his attempted coup.
• Judging from the basic shadow shapes, and the audio-based attack being used on Prowl, I'm going to guess that the kidnapper will be revealed as Hubcap, and is probably as revenge for Pipes' death at Overlord's hands (foot) which was indirectly caused by Prowl as well.
• It's strongly implied that the police car seen at the end of Last Stand of the Wreckers was actually Stakeout beginning his new job as Verity's guard.
• Verity's mystery illness appears to be in relation to Cybertronians, as she is seen suffering with pain whenever one appears. Stakeout also seems worried about touching her or even being near her. More than likely she caught this "disease" whilst with Magnus or the Wreckers, as Jimmy wasn't shown as suffering when he reappeared in recent comics.
• Kup's comments on how Springer would do anything to save Kup if he was ill is a reference to Spotlight: Kup, where Springer authorized the deaths of many Autobots just to rescue the insane Kup.
• Why didn't Debris go down when all the other Autobot outposts were knocked out during All Hail Megatron? We know it was around before those events, since Impactor put up his pre-emptive memorial slab before his arrest.
• Guzzle has grown A LOT since we last saw him, with him now being larger than Roadbuster, last time we saw him be was the shortest of the current Wreckers.
• Judging from the letter to the readers, and small doodle in the corner after the comic, at least three Autobots will die in tis story....eep!
• Due to them being around in "The Transformers" after this, we can assume that Kup and Arcee will survive at least.

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #47

Title: The Lopsided Triangle

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Brendan Cahill

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

In "Visages", Getaway tells Tailgate the story of his own birth and the reason he was named Getaway (since he ran away during his first battle). After a brief conversation about how Getaway reminds Tailgate of how Cyclonus told him stories and tried to teach him Old Cybertronian songs in the past, before Getaway uses Nautica's wrench to reveal Ravage in the bar too. Ravage claims to be just drinking, and wasn't even hiding, but Getaway decides to leave with Tailgate regardless.

Cyclonus wakes up in his hab-suite to find Tailgate gone, he heads to Swerve's bar to try and find him, but Swerve just tells him that Tailgate was at Getaways hab-suite. He then gives Cyclonus a free drink to say thanks for his help when he was depressed on "Swearth". Cyclonus leaves.

At Getaway's hab-suite, the creepy Autobot gives Tailgate some mnemo-surgery needles as a gift, claiming that Tailgate always talks about how he loves Chromedome's set. Getaway then reveals to Tailgate that he's been trying to perform the act of becoming Tailgate's Conjunx Endura, but the final thing they need, is for Tailgate to prove his love for him too...which he agrees to....

Cyclonus heads to Whirl's hab-suite, where the duo talk about Cyclonus having strong feelings for Tailgate, and how he's worried that his little friend is being messed around with by Getaway. Whirl laughs this off, since Cyclonus doesn't have feelings normally. Whirl tells Cyclonus that Tailgate might just like Getaway more than him, and he has to accept that. Cyclonus goes to leave, and thanks Whirl for being brutally honest with him, as he knows Whirl doesn't care about his feelings, and isn't afraid of him, so he would just tell the truth on this matter, leaving Whirl a bit shocked.

Soon, Whirl has called his cohorts, Getaway and Atomizer to his hab-suite where he asks them to call off the plan of using Tailgate to get Megatron thrown off the ship or killed, as he's having second thoughts now. Getaway flat-out refuses as he's spent too much time "grooming" the small Autobot, and has convinced him to use his mnemo-surgery needles to use Shadowplay on Megatron to administer an "Anti-Villain Virus" into their co-captain, and make him nice. However, both the virus and needles are fakes, and he plans for Megatron to flip out the moment he sees the needles, due to his phobia, and kill Tailgate, forcing the crew to either kill Megatron in anger, or have him sent back to Cybertron in disgrace. Whirl repeats his dislike of the plan and starts fiddling with his home-made clocks, when Atomizer points Getaway's Nudge Gun at his head, and shoots him point blank.

Whirl's mind is slowly being erased of information of the plan, but as he's losing his mind, he sends out his holo-avatar across the ship to get help from Cyclonus, who sees he avatar out his window, and sees it seemingly choking on something, leading him to rush off.

Soon, Cyclonus arrives at Whirl's hab-suite, passing the leaving Atomzer and Getaway, only to find Whirl with a head-ache, and no recollection of anything from the last day. Cyclonusbegins to leave when he notices that Whirl has set all of his clocks to 1:13, telling Cyclonus to go to suite 113, Megatron's hab-suite.

At suite 113, Tailgate sneaks in, ready to "cure" Megatron, when suddenly Ravage finds him and calls for Megatron to wake up, upon seeing the needles, Megatron does indeed flip out, and grabs Tailgate by the head. Luckily however, Cyclonus suddenly appears, stabs Megatron with the Great Sword, knocks out Ravage, and smacks down Megatron with his own recharge slab, before running off with Tailgate.

The two friends run towards the shuttlebay, where Tailgate realizes that Getaway lied to him, and tried to get him killed. Along the way Tailgate begins to ask Cyclonus about the "Four Acts" of becoming Conjunx Endurae, but decides to wait before revealing that the two of them, had accidentally done all four acts when Tailgate was dying from Cybercrosis. Cyclonus held his hand whilst singing in Old Cybertronian, Tailgate admitted he was afraid of death, he gave Cyclonus his replacement horn, and finally, Cyclonus shared his spark energy to give Tailgate enough power for the treatment process, meaning that the two are in fact already a couple.

The duo reach the shuttle bay, but find the doors locked, and security waiting for them. Cyclonus reaches for his sword again, but Security opens fire on him, Cyclonus shields his friend from the fire, and bids him a sweet goodbye before collapsing.

Tailgate leans across Cyclonus' body and starts to panic, begins tearing again, then lets out a bright light that fills the entire ship, before suddenly stopping, and the ship seemingly begins to drift away....

Characters

Autobot

Megatron - Tank Pummelled by Cyclonus

Tailgate - Car

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter Shot by Atomizer with Nudge Gun

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Race Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Chromedome - Car

Swerve - Van

Crosscut - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Jackpot - Car

Grotusque - Winged-Cat Monster

Powerflash - Jet

Strafe - Jet

Dogfight - Jet

Boss - Race Car

Aquafend - Baja Buggy

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Ravage - Cassette Beaten by Cyclonus

Cycbertronian

Cyclonus - Jet Shot, maybe killed by Security

Ten

Scalp - Head (Mentioned)

Tyrest (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue reveals the truth behind Getaway's interest in Tailgate, which, as assumed before, is not a good thing! He even calls it grooming...that's creepier still!
• It's revealed here that Sparks that were stored during the war were in fact kept frozen, until they were needed
• The process of becoming a Conjunx Endura with someone is revealed in this issue, which is done via intimacy, disclosing a secret, giving a gift, and the recipient making a gesture to show their love in return.
• Whirl's cohorts who tried to help him with getting Megatron "exposed" at the start of season two are revealed to be Getaway and Atomizer. Atomizer was also previously shown trying to upset the captains of the ship with a fake list of people who voted him off the ship himself.
• Getaway's "Nudge Gun", the twin of Skids' which was a plot point from season one, is back in Getaway's possession now, since it was confiscated by Tyrest when he captured him.
• Atomizer's body is shown in some detail here which shows that he most likely has a race car alternate mode.
• Tailgate's old friend Scalp, who turned into a head, is revealed to have been a Mnemo-surgeon, like Chromedome.
• Whirl was previously shown to be able to transmit his holo-avatar across the ship when he was detained in his room by Ultra Magnus, and still left via it to go to the bar.
• Cyclonus similarly shielded Rewind from an explosion in season one, but seemed to fair a bit better afterwards there...
• Tailgate's panicked eye effect appears to actually be a manifestation of some Outlier power he's unknowingly had all along.
• Tailgate's "power" giving off a rainbow coloured light in the aftermath is possibly a reference to the rainbow being the "flag" of homosexual culture, which is arguably what Tailgate and Cyclonus could be classed as part of.