IDW - Transformers vs Visionaries #4

Title: Good Men

Written by: Magdalene Visaggio 

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Lettered by: Shawn Lee

Edited by: Sarah Gaydos & David Mariotte

Published by: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Quickswitch is recruited by Ironhide's team due to his drill alternate mode, and is outfitted with the counter-wave bomb to be taken down to Vector Sigma and detonated to stop the Talisman's effects. Leoric and Ironhide are worried about how they haven't heard from Arzon's team yet, and believe they may have been killed.

In New Prysmos, Witterquick and Mortdred are being held in a torture chamber and are hurt by Reekon, until Cryotek arrives and takes over the torture. He tries to explain himself to Witterquick, when Virulina comes in and wants to talk to her ew Darkling Lord.

Elesewhere, in his chamber, Merklynn is talking with Arzon, and explains that he wants their people to go back to their magical ways and sees the Cybertronians are blasphemous. He tells Arzon that he wants him to overthrow Virulina and rule Prysmos the proper way, even showing him a vision of the future from his scrying pool, showing Virulina broken and beaten on a floor.

Virulina takes Cryotek to her throne room, where she attacks him to goad him into fighting back, making him prove that he will fight for his people, she is able to defeat him, and explains that she has used a spell on the torture chamber that will send their life-force to the Talisman to speed up it's activation, meaning that it'll be ready today, so long as Witterquick and Mortdred are killed by Cryotek.

Back in the lab, Quickswitch is having some last minute work done before the mission, when Leoric receives a message from Cryotek, telling him about what is happening with Witterquick and the Talisman, apologizing for his betrayal . Leoric heads off alone to confront Virulina himself, leaving Galadria in charge of the bomb team.

The team, heads out, but soon encounter Talsiman energy whilst drilling. Quickswitch manages to go through the energy, shielding the others, but is killed in the process. The group wind up in a chamber near Vector Sigma and Wheeljack prepares to set off the bomb. Unfortunately the group are not alone, Arzon, now wearing Darkling Lord armour, confronts the group. The Spectral Knights are captured by the Darkling Lords, whilst Arzon tries to convince Galadria to join him, but she cannot do so, as committing genocide is wrong. Arzon slaps her away, and slashes the counterwave bomb in half....

Characters

Autobot

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Race Car

Quickswitch - Drill  Killed by Talisman Energy

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Image)

Spectral Knight

Leoric 

Galadria

Ectar

Witterquick Being Drained of Life Force

Arzon Joins Darkling Lords

Darkling Lord

Virulina

Cryotek

Reekon

Cravex

Lexor

Mortdred Being Drained of Life Force

Darkstorm (Flashback)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Breakdown - Arnoured Van

Vector Sigma (Mentioned)

Other

Merklynn

Heskedor (Mentioned) Heart Became Arcana Vast

Notes

• Hey look it's Quickswitch! Let's hope he doesn't die within an iss-oh....he did... Funny story, I actually called this, I read the three page preview and called that he would die a "shock-death" Here's my tweet!
• Speaking of shock deaths...has anything been said of what happened with Fat Tankor? Last time we saw him he was guarding the alien city.
• Quickswitch's transformation capabilities seem a bit confused in this issue. He bemoans his drill mode, but doesn't he have 4 other alternate modes? (I would assume this was due to a change in his alternate modes for the series, except the roll call page says he's a multi-former)
• Virulina has big scary holographic versions of her head emitting from her base tower...how can the people of New Prysmos NOT see she is evil?!
• We learn a bit of the Visionaries creation story here, basically there was once a being who acted as the living universe, and over time she split apart with her heart forming the Arcana vast at the core of Prysmos, giving life to their planet and giving them their magical powers.
• So...from the dialogue here it sounds like Merklynn did intend to betray Virulina eventually, but not in the way I thought originally, he just wants someone else to take control of the city.
• Still waiting for all the air to escape New Prysmos here...it's a been a couple days at least now
• Apparently the totem shields can be used to contact other Visionaries, which emits the caller's face via magic...why didn't any of the left behind Spectral Knights use this to ask Leoric and the others what was happening rather than betraying him to Virulina?
• Oh, Arzon joined the Darkling Lords too, cool...seems like all the most loyal Spectral Knights aren't too loyal huh? I mean I guess it could just be a ruse for his ultimate plan to take down Virulina, but it seems a bit extreme to slap Galadria if that was the case.
• Also, remember how Mortdred was standing along with Virulina on top of the Thrustinator chariot last issue, implying that he was either betraying the Knights, or just getting close to her to assassinate her? Well I think Mags forgot! He's a prisoner here now!
• And yes, this issue ends with the Darkling Lords still with all the power and nothing good for the Spectral Knights, so if they have any chance of winning in the finale next issue it will be a Deus Ex Machina...yay....

Sig Pub - Robots in Disguise #30

Notes

• This month's screen-cap comic is "Sphere of Influence"
• This issue shows us a view of Stockade's vehicle mode. I do not remember seeing that in the series proper!
• For some reason Crosshairs from the Movies is the featured character on Puzzling Prizes....why?

Features

Make Blurr - Destroy the cover to make a cardstock Blurr toy!

Brainbusting Puzzles - Do some random puzzles!

Battle of the Bots - Strongarm vs Springload profiles

Colour in Zorillor! - Colour in one of the Decepticons featured in this month's comic

Capture Hammerstrike! - Lead Grimlock to Hammerstrike

Mini-Con Memory Test- Test your memory to try and remember 12 Mini-Con names

Drift Dots- Play a dot-to-dot game to complete a picture of Drift's face

Let's Rrrrumble!! - Pull out poster

Mega Auto Match! - Match the vehicle mode to the Transformers

Comic Investigator - Answer questions about the comic in this month's magazine

Puzzling Prizes - Answer some questions to enter a toy contest!

Fact or Falsehood? - Answer trivia characters about Robots in Disguise

Transformers Post - Send pictures and photos to Fixit!

Sig Pub - Rescue Bots #10

Notes

• This month's screen-cap comic is for "The Lost Bell"
• The eggshell pirate tutorial is quite suitable, since this magazine came out just before Easter

Features

The best of the Bots! - Do some puzzles!

Heatwave's Firefighting Facts - Learn about firefighters!

Search and Find! - Locate certain details in a picture!

What a load of Rubbish! - Decide which type of bin you can put all the rubbish you find into!

Helicopter match up! - Find the odd helicopter out!

4 Page Colouring! - A pull-out collection of colouring-in pages of the Rescue Bots

Find out about Storms! - Learn about storms from the Rescue Bots

Rescue Bots Post - Send some scary pictures to Bumblebee!

Make Eggshell Pirates! Make some watercress pirates with eggshells! 

Treasure Hunt! - Lead High Tide to some pirate treasure

Make your own Rescue Bots story - Fill in the gaps to complete a tory for the Rescue Bots to be involved in!

Competition Time! - Answer some questions to win some Mini-Con figures!

IDW - Lost Light #16

Title: The Everlasting Voices 1: Metastasis

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rodimus and Cyclonus wake up in separate rooms and walk outside them, with them looking shocked and happy (respectively) to see a giant Matrix in the sky above them.

Soon afterwards, Rodimus contacts Ultra Magnus, who is also there, to see if he can identify where they are, arranging to meet "under the Matrix", where Rodimus comes across Ten, who thanks Rodimus for taking him in, and says that everyone made him so happy. At the moment of his happiness, Ten is stuck with light from the Matrix, his chest tears open and his spark leaves his body, leaving him dead on the ground. Ratchet arrives just afterwards, now not in his intangible form.

Back in the awakening rooms, Nautica is analysing the glyphs on her own bed when Brainstorm and Nightbeat arrive, Nautica deciphers the glyphs to be the creation story told by the Clavis Aurea, which tells about how Primus split into five individuals to start the Cybertronian race. Soon Drift arrives to tell them to come see what he's found outside...

Ratchet examines Ten's body and determines that he is indeed dead when Magnus arrives, with Whirl, Velocity and Swerve in tow. The assembled crew try to determine where they are, only for Swerve and Cyclonus to explain that they must be in the Afterspark, having been killed when Ten directed them to a portal where they were exposed to compressed space, and killed the entire crew.

The crew, especially Rodimus are distraught over this news, but Ratchet refuses to believe that he and the others are in some after-life, as that goes against everything he believes in. On cue, two of the long dead previous crewmates ppear from nowhere, Trailcutter and Pipes! The crew are shocked, and Cyclonus speeds off to find something...

Back with the other group, Drift explains to them how they died and is now in the Afterspark. Nightbeat is upset since this is yet another one of the great mysteries he has been denied of solving. Suddenly Roller appears with his friend from his days as a cop, Springarm, who was murdered on the job by Senate thugs. Roller rides off with him again after introducing him to his new friends, all whilst Brainstorms warning device freaks out and even burns his hands, showing that they are indeed in danger...

Ratchet examines Pipes to determine if he's actually alive or not, but can't find anything wrong. Trailcutter and Pipes explain that they are in a limbo-like location BEFORE entering the Afterspark, where their minds can be shielded from the intense emotions in the real Afterspark, but will be able to ascend when they "put their affairs in order".

On the note, Cyclonus locates what he was looking for, Tailgate, who was seemingly waiting for Cyclonus to arrive so they could pass on together, and the two embrace upon finding each other again.

The crew don't know what to do, but Whirl manages to get Rodimus out of his funk by asking him what he thinks Megatron would do in this situation. Rodimus immediately sets about to try and get answers, he asks Trailcutter who is in charge, which he just says "god" so Rodimus does the reasonable thing....he yells at the sky, demanding that Primus speak to him directly. The rest of the drew and embarrassed by his actions, until Rodimus gets struck by lightning and vanishes.

Rodimus arrives on a dias, where he is surrounded by the giant figures of the Guiding Hand, Primus, Epistemus, Mortilus, Solumus and Adaptus, and he offers them his hand in greeting!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Swerve - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Nautica - Submarine

Nightbeat - Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Afterspark Tailgate - Car

Afterspark Trailcutter - Van

Afterspark Pipes - Truck

Rung - Photon Crystal Generator (Flashback Only)

Chromedome - Car (Flashback Only)

Rewind - Data Slug (Flashback Only) Injured by Sword Slash

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Skip - Space Shuttle (Flashback) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Ten "Ascended" to Afterspark 

Afterspark Springarm - Motorcycle

Afterspark Primus

Afterspark Mortilus

Afterspark Adaptus

Afterspark Epistemus

Afterspark Solomus

Anode - Bi-Plane (Flashback Only)

Lug - Backpack Equipment (Flashback Only)

Wheelarch - Motorcycle (Mentioned) Dead

Kroma (Mentioned)

Notes

• We rejoin Team Rodimus following the events of issue 13
• I know all the crew are mentioned as being killed before this issue, but I don't believe it happened, so I wont be putting it in the character list section.
• So....Rodimus' communicator/phone works in the afterlife? hmm....
• Here's a weird thing...where are Anode, Lug, Chromedome, Rewind and Rung in the Afterspark? I could understand the former four as they would be "happy" and could instantly move on, but we know Rung has massive issues and worries in his life...so where is he?
• The characters in the Afterspark don't all remember what happened following Ten's big announcement...perhaps this is because they are false memories, planted by whoever placed them here?
• So...why is Pipes one of the guys summoned to show the crew the way to the real Afterspark? I mean I like seeing him again, but why is he there? His main joke was that no-one really cared about him. Wouldn't Skids have been a better choice, given the people assembled?
• Trailcutter being summoned and being of interest to Rodimus is a nice nod to how broken up he was over his death. He even tried to re-write history to make Trailcutter not die!
• Drift refers to Primus as the "Celestial Architect"...wonder if that is somehow connected to the "Grand Architect"? Perhaps he was called that before being split into five, and having the name inherited by one of his components? 
• It's confirmed here that the disappearances of Luna-1, Ark-1 and the purpose of Rung's alternate mode are the "Big Three" mysteries that Nightbeat has been investigating in his spare time since the start of IDW's Transformers line!
• Trailcutter's projection of what the Afterspark looks like seems VERY similar to what was believed to be Cyberutopia in issue 12 huh?
• If they are all in the Afterspark, then why are some of their belonging (Rodimus' phone and  Brainstorm's early warning device) with them?
• Pipes knows both who Velocity is, and what Nautica's nickname for her is....why? Pipes doesn't know who either of them are, having died well before either joined the crew. Maybe he can watch the Lost Light from the Afterspark? (or something more sinister!)
• Can I just say how perfect it is that the egotistical Rodimus is so confident in himself that upon meeting his creator Gods, he just asks for a handshake with a grin!
• Of note, the only four dead Cybertronians we see in this issue all died violent ways, Springarm was decapitated, Pipes was stomped to death, Trailcutter was torn apart and crushed against his own forcefield and Tailgate was (supposedly) killed by a spark explosion. Even if we count the Guiding Hand, they all were mentioned as dying or being turned into a new item during a war.
• Okay, it seems painfully obvious that the "Afterspark" isn't what it appears to be. There are so many things wrong there that it hurts. I've mentioned a few throughout these notes, but one major thing I haven't mentioned is that Brainstorm's Early Early Warning Device has been going off, and overheating throughout the issue, it even gets too hot to touch right after Roller rides off with Springarm.
• Here's my theory on what happened. At the end of issue 13, Ten told the crew what to do to save themselves and they wound up in the Warren and arrived at Cyberutopia, where they were knocked out and left to wake up in this scenario. The dead characters are facsimiles made from reading their memories, possibly including Ten himself who is noted as sounding different throughout the story. The crew are being tested to see if they can be used in whatever the Cyberutopians want to do to the Universe and that is what will be revealed over the next couple issues.
• Following the usual adverts, the back page features a funeral/memorial announcement for Kup, acting as an advert for Transformers vs Visionaries, where he died (and giving a small announcement about the "road to Unicron"underneath)

IDW - Scarlett's Strike Force #3

Written by: Aubrey Sitterson

Art by: Nelson Daniel

Colours by: Ryan Hill

Letters by: Taylor Esposito

Editors: Tom Waltz & Chase Marotz

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

The Joes in the jungle-overgrown Arctic ride around, following a smaller team led by Spirit, trying to find the Cobra Temple, ultimately locating it, and finding a massive army of Vipers surrounding it.

The Joes attack the Vipers, but Quick Kick remains behind, with "Friday", when the former discovers Storm Shadow following him, and the two start to fight.

Quick kick appears to be winning the fight, until another ninja joins in, the female, former Storm Shadow, who has joined up with Storm Shadow as his sidekick, Tempest. The two escape with a ninja smoke ball, allowing them to escape, promising to fight him again later.

In the temple, Crystal Ball is putting the final touches on his master-plan, all whilst the Joes outside and tearing through the Vipers outside. Salvo and Spitfire defy orders and enter the temple, gunning down a bunch of Vipers performing some sort of ritual. Unfortunately this was part of their plan, as they bleed out, powering up an engraved mural of Golobulus, which lights up.

The temple starts to shake, as the Joes just manage to escape, the members of Cobra rise up on a meteor and plan to resurrect Golobulus from the stars, hoping for it to devour the planet below....

Back on the Lemuria, Helix and Snake Eyes are still in the brig, beginning a plan to start a game of D&D when the power goes out, forcing their energy-bar powered cells to go out, allowing the prisoners to escape.

Scarlett soon screams at Shipwreck for his new power source failing, and has him and Gung-Ho work on repairing it now.

The escapees soon come across Skywarp, who explains that he is the one who disabled the power grid, as a way to allow them to escape and join forces with Duke. The two are sent off to grab a vehicle to escape with...

Characters

GI Joe

Scarlett

Roadblock

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Quick Kick

Salvo

Spitfire

Spirit

Cover Girl

Dial Tone

Shipwreck

Polly the Parrot

Gung-Ho

Snake-Eyes

Helix

Rock 'n Roll (Mentioned)

Cobra

Cobra Commander

Storm Shadow

Lady Storm Shadow/Tempest

Destro

Crystal Ball

Dr. Mindbender

Vipers Most Killed by GI Joe

Golobulus (Mural Only)

Other

"Friday"

Notes

• YAY! It's the last issue! And without failing to disappoint, it ends on a cliffhanger. Oddly this issue doesn't include any "The end" or "letter from the writer" section, as you would normally find in a final issue of a series. I guess IDW didn't want Sitterson to write something stupid again, like he did about 9/11 last year....
• Um....how did the Joes not notice the giant temple surrounded with snake monsters with a giant red sky around it? Did they really need to bring Spirit with them to find it?
• In case it wasn't clear, Helix is getting Snake Eyes to play Dungeons and Dragons (another Hasbro product) whilst in the brig.
• So...my only guess for why the hydrothermal generator scene was added last issue was so they had a reasonable method for Skywarp to disable it in this issue
• Quick Kick brings up how Storm Shadow owes him some teeth....then shows that his mouth has no missing teeth (certainly not the ones he was missing before anyway!)
• So...Lady Storm Shadow, a powerful warrior, who was upgraded with Dire Wraith technology, and was strong enough to disable a Eukarian, Antagony, all by herself, was apparently defeated by the Male Storm Shadow, and forced to be his sidekick....yeah I don't accept that!
• My guess last issue turns out to be wrong, Skywarp's assets to be given over to Duke were Helix and Snake Eyes, not the captive Dire Wraiths.
• Last issue, Crystal Ball appeared to be talking about using Rock 'n Roll's blood to power up the resurrection of Golobulu, but here they just use some of the Vipers instead....is this bad writing, or did Sitterson just change his mind?
• Cobra Commander screaming "Cobra-lalalalalala!" is a reference to the 80's GI Joe Movie.
• So....I know everyone has already brought this up, but why are Lady Storm Shadow, Destro and Dr Mindbender on Earth? They were all major parts of the Iron Ring's attack on Cybertron, and are all being held in cells on Cybertron. We know this issue is relatively contemporary to Optimus Prime, as both SSF#2 and Optimus Prime #15 mentioned/showed the newly opened Ore-13 mine in Kentucky, and we know from the latter that Colton, and his cohorts are still imprisoned at that time...so why are they here?!?!
• And in a scene that was cut from this issue, following the final page, the Solstar Order send a team to Earth to kill all the Dire Wraiths impersonating the Joes and Cobra members, freeing their captive real counterparts, allowing for this series to just be forgotten about in a later reboot :)

IDW - Rom and the Micronauts #3

Title: Entropy

Writer: Christos Gage

Artist: Paolo Villanelli

Colourist: Alessandra Alexakis

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rom and the Micronauts are attacked by the now Wraith infected Acroyear, but after a long fight, Phen manages to stall her would-be lover for a second, allowing Rom to use his Neutralizer on him, purging the Wraith-taint from his body.

At the Entropy-Cloud processing facility, Membros is showing the Absence his work, by using a combination of Wraith magic and Ministry of War technology to contain the cloud, allowing it to be transported to the Presence, allowing her to turn Earth into a new Wraith homeworld. 

Outside, the Ampzilla and Terraphant guards are attacked by Rom, but don't realize that a Hornetroid unit following him is a Trojan horse, just as the Micronauts blast themselves out of it and tear through the guards.

With the guards dead, the Micronauts attack the barrier around the facility, but cannot break it down...that is until Microtron bashes their ship into the wall, causing it to create a hole for the others to go through.

Inside the facility, Microtron scans the area and transmits his findings to Biotron, just as the Absence attacks him, phasing through his body and disabling the robot. The others arrive and start attacking the Absence, he begins to panic as he is needed for the conduit to send the cloud to Earth, but is rescued when Membros returns with an Antron and Lobros, upgraded with wraith-matter, who attack the Micronauts and Rom.

Biotron recovers Microtron's injured body and tells Rom to go after the machine collecting the cloud, since Microtron's data shows that he can destroy it, allowing the other Micronauts to fight their new enemies.

Rom quickly destroys the machine, but as a result, the collected cloud is unable to be stored anymore, and he is forced to fly away. Rom is willing to fight the remaining wraiths and Ministry members, since his armour should protect him from aging from the cloud's energies, however Membros just tells them to leave, as he plans to, since he is now planning to go into hiding since he has failed Karza, and now fears for his life.

The Micronauts escape, just as the cloud erupts, causing everything around it to age and decay. Larissa decides to take this opportunity to return to Earth, so they can take down Karza and his allies before they can rebuild their facility.

However, on Earth, Karza is informed of the facility's destruction by the Absence, but admits that he expected this to happen, so he built another device, ready to be sent back to Microspace, this time more heavily protected, despite this leaving their Earth forces limited.

Karza intends for the Micronauts to attack, seeing him as being open to attack, but he already hasd a plan to take them out once and for all...

Characters

Micronaut

Larissa

Phenolo-Phi

Acroyear Cured of Wraith-Taint by Rom

Biotron

Microtron Disabled by The Absence

Ministry of War

Baron Karza

Membros

Dire Wraith/Wraith Infected

The Absence

Lobros

Antron

Ampzilla Killed by Rom

Terraphant Three Killed by Acroyear

Hornetroid (Corpse Only) Dead

Wraith Creatures

Wraith Warriors

Wraith Sorcerers (Mentioned)

The Presence (Mentioned)

Other

Rom

Aged Corpses Dead

Notes

• As mentioned in the comic itself, Solstar Knights are able to burn out a Wraith infection using their weapons, as Orphion did to Camilla Byers in the Rom solo series. However in that case, a taint remained and gave her the biology of a Wraith still, despite remaining human...wonder if Acroyear will show any changes from this too?
• Following the removal of the Wraith taint, Acroyear never deploys his wings, which he normally does...coincidence?
• Is it just me, or does the picture above of the Micronaut's ship look like the armoured version of Voyager from Star Trek?
• It appears that the Lobros and Antron shown in this issue are not the same ones from Wrath of Karza, since he refers to the older ones as "the last versions".
• Okay, Karza is definitely one of the smartest villains out there. He figured there was a chance that the heroes could destroy his weapon, so he had another one (potentially more) built just in case.

IDW - Optimus Prime #16

Title: The Falling Chapter 2: Another Mine

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Soundwave, acting as the foreman of the Ore-13 mine on Earth has a daydream to his past as a supervisor on Luna-2, and how even then he was looked down on by the Prime of the time, Sentinel. He then thinks back to when Optimus blackmailed him into helping him on Earth when he threatened to reveal his involvement in Horri-Bull's death a few years earlier, but he justified that as Optimus looking for freedom for everyone.

Back in the present, Soundwave is called by Autobot City, saying that Optimus needs him on Cybertron, leading him to leave the President and her Joe guards behind. Soundwave soon heads through the space bridge to Cybertron, leaving Pyra and her team behind for backup if needed, and arrives to find a giant eye in the sky above Iacon, and everyone in a bit of a panic.

Onyx Prime delivers Liege Maximo to the Council of Worlds and Optimus, explaining that he wants Maximo to be tried for his crimes against Cybertron, and also wants to help out the new social order by repairing the tainted Energon on the planet, and break up alliances with Earth and any other organic world, much to the distaste of the councillors and Optimus.

The Primes, including Alpha Trion, and the Council head to the Spire to discuss these matters in private, rather than in public.

Scoop watches the events from a rooftop, and is now convinced again that Starscream is the Chosen One, since he knew about the arrival of Onyx Prime, despite being in a windowless cell, unaware that Bumblebee's "ghost" was the one to inform him of the events.

Soundwave goes to meet with some of his fellow Decepticons at a shooting range, and they decide to go to the Spire themselves to find out what is happening with the Primes themselves.

They soon arrive at the Spire, where Soundwave manipulates Beachcomber into letting him speak to the imprisoned Liege Maximo briefly, to which Soundwave is horrified to discover that he cannot read his mind, unlike everyone else, and leaves to see the Council next.

Things get heated in the Council chambers with no one really trusting Onyx and his goals, thanks to the warnings of Galvatron in the past. Mistress of Flame brings up Onyx killing Praesidia and Magrada in the past, event invading Caminus in the past, shocking Windblade, who knew nothing about this. Optimus tries to calm the situation, and concedes that Galvatron was a terrible person and they should probably not trust his word on Onyx being evil before they hear his side on the matter.

At this point, Soundwave enters the Council chamber and accuses Optimus of betraying them and trying to bring back the rule of the Primes, thanks to him siding with the other Prime.

Optimus tries to explain his meaning, whilst Windblade yells at Mistress of Flame for keeping secrets and Alpha Trion realizes something, something important about Onyx Prime....

Suddenly, the building explodes, everyone panics, the Councillors go into defensive mode, protecting the weaker members, and Soundwave rushes to Alpha Trion, who took the brunt of the blast, but finds him already dead and faded to grey.

In the aftermath, Onyx declares that Soundwave, and his Decepticons are responsible for this, either by action or reputation, and they must be tried along with Maximo, if he survived the blast, for their mutual crimes....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime/"The Arisen" - Truck Cab

Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle Killed in Explosion 

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dustup - Sports Car

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Tracks - Muscle Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Beachcomber - Dune Buggy

Seaspray - Hovercraft 

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Powerglide - A-10 Jet

Silverbolt - Passenger Jet

Alpha Bravo - Helicopter

Skydive - Fighter Jet

Fireflight - Fighter Jet

Air Raid - Fighter Jet

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost")

Sentinel Prime - Truck (Flashback Only) Dead

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Flashback Only)

Chromia - Speedbike (Mentioned)

Zeta Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Dinobots (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

Laserbeak - Cassette

Buzzsaw - Cassette 

Ravage - Cassette (Flashback Only)

Sky-Byte - Shark (Flashback Only)

Slugslinger - Two Nosed Jet (Flashback Only)

Scrapper - Front End Loader (Mentioned) Dead

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Horri-Bull - Bull (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Onyx Prime

Liege Maximo In Custody

Mistress of Flame

Elita One

Airazor - Falcon

Tigatron - Tiger

Knock Out - Sports Car

Moonracer - Sports Car

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Starscream - Fighter Jet In Custody

Scoop - Front End Loader

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Hook - Crane

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Scavenger - Excavator

Ramulus - Ibex

"Beast Megatron" - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Sharkticons - Sharks

Junkions

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Luna-2 Miners (Flashback Only)

Teletraan (Voice)

Primus (Mentioned)

The Other Primes (Mentioned)

Chromia's Team (Mentioned)

Ironhide's Security Team (Mentioned)

Praesidia (Mentioned) Dead

Magrada (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Madame President

Flint

Chameleon

Human Miners

The Iron Ring (Mentioned) In Custody

Other

Buster the Dog (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Interesting...unless it's just an artistic difference, it looks like Needlenose was eavesdropping when Optimus blackmails Soundwave over his involvement in Horri-Bull's death...I wonder if this will be a plot point later?
• Despite how it sounded last issue, the Colonists do not go to visit Soundwave at the Ore-13 mine this issue. They don't even appear in this issue in fact!
• Another interesting thing....Alpha Trion apologizes to Soundwave for stabbing him during the Titans Return event...why does he remember that? Sovereign/Blackrock was controlling his body and replaced his head during those events.
• Onyx Prime refers to his Beast army as "Maximals", the name of the heroic faction from Beast Wars.
• It may just be a nick-name or something here, but one of the Constructicons calls Scoop "Scooper" in one instance, possibly to refer to him being a replacement for the dead Scrapper.
• Bumblebee brings up the good point that Starscream obsessing over what his "true self" should have been is a bit stupid, since he can just get his body changed to match it, since he did that multiple times over the past few years anyway.
• Beachcomber's guilt from helping Starscream is a reference to his actions in the Optimus Prime Annual, where he almost got Thundercracker killed by essentially putting a hit on him for Starscream.
• Beachcomber and fellow guard, Seaspray are drawn to match their recent Power of the Primes and Titans Return toys.
• For some reason Moonracer is shown with a new sigil on her shoulder, showing a crescent moon and two stars...I like it, don't get me wrong, but where did it come from? It doesn't appear to be part of her new toy, and I don't remember her having it before now, just weird!
• Liege Maximo is referred to as the Prime of Lies here...the same title given to Quintessa in "The Last Knight", further adding to my theory that she is actually Liege Maximo in disguise.
• Okay, here's my crazed conspiracy theory for the day! Onyx Prime is an imposter, and so is the imprisoned Liege Maximo, they are just illusions created by the real Maximo, who has been hiding on Cybertron or something ever since the end of the Titan invasion. Soundwave not being able to read the minds of either Maximo or Onyx is very damning, since he's never had a problem reading minds in the past. It's also very likely that Maximo caused the explosion, when he realized that Alpha Trion figured it all out, just to get rid of him and pass the blame onto Soundwave and his crew. It even looks like someone is shoving Trion into a wall during the explosion, if you look closely to his cape, or rather under it.