IDW - Transformers vs G.I. Joe #5

Title: Everybody Hates Metroplex

Written by: Tom Scioli and John Barber

Art, Colours and Lettering by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Optimus, Snake Eyes and Duke are being held by the Quintessons and are placed on trial for their theft of their own lives (they're delusional). Their minds are probed by the Quintessons and learn some of their darkest moments, and what made them who they are today. Optimus and the others manage to escape their captives (HOW?!) and start to drive back to normal space (....yeah...they drive back....)

On Cybertron, the Autobots and Joes, who have now teamed up are being attacked from the outside by the Decepticons and Cobra, by also burning away the terraformed area around Iacon. Some of the Autobots leave Metroplex to combat Fortress Maximus, who appears to have joined the Decepticon's side for unknown reasons. During the battle, Wild Bill is released from the infirmary, where he goes and opens the gates for Cobra to break in, revealing that he is actually Zartan in disguise.

Meanwhile, on Earth Cobra attack Blackwater Prison and free several captured Cobra agents, whilst Hawk is attacked at how by Storm Shadow, who is trying to steal his tomahawk, an old family heirloom.

Back on Cybertron, Tunnel Rat and several other Joes, along with Arcee enter Fort Max, fight past the Oktober Guard and manage to find Clyde (the pig....). Inside Max's brain Arcee and some Joes find Blackarachnia, who has implanted mines into Max's brain to make him essentially a zombie under her control. Meanwhile, the other Joe animals, also seemingly under her control attack their owners.

Rodimus returns to Metroplex with Blaster and his human "captives" and hands them over to the others for repairs etc.

On Earth, Destro and Serpentress visit the comatose body of Cobra Commander, planning to kill him off once and for all, but discover that it is in fact a replacement body, and not his own, meaning that he is out there somewhere!

Rodimus tries to make Metroplex transform to robot mode to help with the fight, but Grimlock stops him, declaring himself as king, and the two start to fight over leadership. However within a few seconds Grimlock jumps up into Trypticon's mouth and attacks Megatron head on.

Fortress Maximus rejoins the fight as an Autobot (we don't see how this happens, but let's assume Blackarachnia was defeated). Trypticon bites off Fortress Maximus' head, but the head changes to it's Cerebros mode, allows the Joes and Autobots to escape, along with his own head, Galen.

Megatron is victorious in his battle with Grimlock, and now has his head and tail added to his body.

All of a sudden Snake Eyes and Duke arrive on Cybertron and join the fight thanks to Optimus, who remains anonymous for some reason. Megatron decides to call a retreat, and leaves with a few Joes as prisoners. In the cells, Raptor offers the prisoners food, and an occult book to read.

Optimus arrives in Earth's orbit in killer butterfly mode, destroys the Colton Bolt WMD and begins to head down towards the PIT (to rescue Bumblebee's body I'd guess)

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Rodimus - Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Killed by Megatron

Fortress Maximus

Cerebros - Fortress Maximus' Head

Galen - Cerebros' Head

Metroplex - Giant Slug Thing

Ratchet

Wheeljack - Car

Perceptor - Tank

Arcee - Car

Inferno - Fire Truck

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Ironhide - Treaded Vehicle

Jazz - Car

Sunstreaker

Trailbreaker

Hoist

Powerglide

Slag - Triceratops

Swoop - Pteranodon

Brawn - Van

Blaster Injured

Random Autobots

Bumblebee Head around Megatron's neck

Alpha Trion (Memory)

Ultra Magnus (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Megatron

Trypticon

Blackarachnis Maybe dead?

Spectro

Spyglass

Viewfinder

Mixmaster

Scavenger

Bonecrusher

Flamefeather

Ruckus

Straxus

Random Decepticons

G.I. Joe

Duke

Hawk

Scarlett

Spirit

Shipwreck

Doc

Sci-Fi

Gung-Ho

Cutter

Spearhead

Stalker

Cover Girl

Beachhead

Roadblock

Mutt

Dusty

Alpine

Clutch

Lift-Ticket

Tunnel Rat

Breaker

Jinx

Lt. Falcon

Sandstorm

Mainframe

Chuckles

Barbecue

Psych Out

Frostbite

Steeler

Rock 'n Roll

Snow Job

Ace

Order

Clyde

Polly/Seasick

Max

Freedom

Junkyard

Wild Bill (Disguise used by Zartan)

General Flagg (Voice)

Cobra

Snake Eyes

Serpentress

Destro

Zartan

Raptor

Storm Shadow

Firefly

Zartan

Major Bludd

Tomax

Xamot

Cobra Troops

"Fake Cobra Commander"/Fred Comatose

Cobra Commander (Mentioned) Missing

Oktober Guard

Colonel Breakoff

Dragun

Munchnik

Other

Quintessons

Allicons - Alligators

Hawk's Ancestors (Flashback)

Duke's Mother (Memory)

Duke's Stepfather (Memory)

Blind Master (Memory)

Notes

• Ugh...it's back....
• The Quintessons are redesigned as Eldritch looking monsters here, who appear to believe they are the creators over all.
• I wonder if the Sharkticons inside Metroplex are anything to do with the Quintessons as well?
• It looks like Cybertron is now close to Earth....when did that happen?!
• It appears that Wild Bill didn't actually survive his earlier incident, as he was replaced by Zartan.
• Why is Wild Bill/Zartan sweeping in the medical bay? Also, why did the Joes bring a broom to Cybertron with them?
• Hawk's Tomahawk was hinted as being magical or something back in issue one when he used it to cleave into Ravage's skull
• Blackarachnia can only be identified here because she is name dropped...at least the other characters have some passing resemblance to who they are meant to be!
• It's unclear why the GI Joe pets are turned evil briefly, it's also not shown how they are returned to normal...nor how Fort Max is returned to normal....or what happened to Blackarachnia...or the Oktober Guard...
• So how did Optimus and the humans escape from the giant Quintessons?
• Cobra Commander is revealed to be thought to be in a coma since the incident with Snake Eyes, however it is also revealed that he was at some point replaced by a "Fred".
• Why did Grimlock randomly leave his battle with Rodimus just to attack Megatron?
• Galen is shown here to be a Cybertronian,, rather than a Nebulan as he normally is.
• Megatron with Grimlock's dino head and tail attached to his arms give him a pasing resemblance to Beast Era Megatron.
• WHY IS MEGATRON RETREATING?! HE IS WINNING THE FIGHT!!!
• When did Cobra capture the Joes?
• Optimus is using his trailer as a pair of wings....not in the cool way like in DOTM, Animated or Prime...it just looks like he's a robot butterfly....
• Despite his prominence on the cover, Tunnel Rat does basically nothing in this issue.

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #37

Title: Elegant Chaos Part 2: Stet

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Lettters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Rodimus' team are staking out around Rodion in the past, looking for Brainstorm and trying to keep an eye out for Orion Pax to keep him safe. Meanwhile, in the present Perceptor and the others try to figure out Brainstorm's method to time travel, and figure out that he may still be trying to reach his actually desired location, and has to land on temporal hotspots to do so along the way.

After a short while of staking out the city, Brainstorm figures out that he's in a useless time frame for him, and flies off, Rewind notices and reports him in. Cyclonus follows, but he time jumps before he can be shot down.

The team regroup and are taken back in time by a year where the team split up with half staying at Maccadam's bar, and the other half staking out the police station. Meanwhile, Brainstorm ambushes the Rung of the past, and knocks him out, trying to prevent him from being involved in the events.

At the police station, Rewind starts wondering if they can use the Time Case to find out what happened to Dominus Ambus, but isn't sure that he's be able to stop himself from saving him, even if it would ruin the time stream again.

Whirl notices his own past self arriving at the station, and recognizes his prisoner as the last one to come in before Megatron....

At Maccadam's New Oil House, Megatron is sitting with Imapctor whilst Rodimus' crew observe his pre-war self. Shortly, Rung accidentally spills a drink over a cadet, and gets thrown across the room onto Megatron's table, resulting in Impactor starting a bar brawl. Roidmus and the team recover Rung and escape the bar before getting further involved. Outside Brainstorm is incredulous that his plan to stop Rung from "starting" the brawl failed as the police arrive to start arresting people.

Back in the present, Megatron has figured out what is happening, and that they've been working on th wrong assumption all along...

In Rodion again, the Senate's thugs are killing Wheelarch and Springarm whilst Chromedome and the others are forced to watch and not interfere, unless Brainstorm makes an appearance and tries to kill Orion Pax when he arrives shortly.

Shortly the Heavies arrive to join the fight, and Whirl goes into a frenzy, knowing them as the ones who destroyed his watch making business and starts beating them down. Chromedome stops him from killing them though as they are supposed to be there to attack Shockwave and the others in a year's time, so this would ruin the future again.

Whirl learns from them that the Functionist Council were the ones who ordered his Empurata, as a punishment for leaving his asigned position in the Aerial Corps. He gets angry, so he kills the third member of the Heavies group to vent his frustrations.

In the present once more, Megatron recounts all of the time points Brainstorm has travelled to, and points out that all of them are important points in HIS life, not Optimus'. This means that Brainstorm is trying to stop Megatron from forming the Decepticons. Perceptor announces that Brainstorm has made another time jump, and Megatron predicts that it is to the day he was created.

Brainstorm arrives in the factory where Megatron is being created, and points a gun at his exposed chest.....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Perceptor

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Riptide - Boat

Tailgate - Car

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Rung

Prowl (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Brainstorm - Jet

Cybertronian

Cylonus - Jet

(Past) Nightbeat - Car

Quark - Proton Microscope

Scrounge

Rattrap

"Streaker"

"Fallout"

Crossbar

Impactor - Mining Vehicle

Hammer

Anvil

Senate Crony Killed by Whirl

Bar Brawl Cadets

Roller - Paddy Wagon

Police Officers - Speed Bikes

Senate Thugs

Wheelarch - Speed Bike Killed by Senate Thugs

Springarm - Speed Bike Killed by Senate Thugs

Senator Sherma Dead

Pre-War Cybertronians

Senator Proteus (On Billboard)

Orion Pax (Mentioned)

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Alpha Trion (Mentioned)

Dominus Ambus (Mentioned)

Senator Shockwave (Mentioned)

Senator Decimus (Mentioned)

Primal Vanguard (Mentioned)

Senate (Mentioned)

Functionist Council (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue features re-prints of 2 pages from Chaos Theory Part 1, and Shadowplay Part 1, and adds more details and context to the events in those scenes.
• The train that Chromedome is riding on is on a set of rails with C-131 on them. C-131 was the Japanese product code for Raiden, who was the combined form of the Trainbots
• We get to see that Cybertron used to be a very watery planet, especially near Rodion.
• Cyclonus apologises to Tailgate for beating him back in issue 4
• Brainstorm finally gets what he's always wanted, Perceptor to be impressed by his genius.
• It's revealed here that Rung's appearances in Shadowplay and Chaos Theory were actually of his future self time travelling, explaining why the Rung of the past has a model of the Lost Light during these scenes
• The broken window in Maccadam's is said to be broken for more than a year here....dahell?
• Tailgate can fit inside Cyclonus' cockpit
• Brainstorm takes off from hi hiding spot on the Interstate Bridge, just as Sherma's body is being planted there by his murderers.
• Rung's fake kibble in the past can convert into a scooter for him to ride on
• The music that Rung and Brainstorm both whistle in this issue is from the Empyrean Suite
• The reason that Rung knocked a drink into the cadet, and caused the bar fight in Chaos Theory is revealed to be because he was grabbing a curly straw for Tailgate (so Tailgate is at least partially responsible for the war!)
• It was mentioned that Impactor caused a lot of damage to one of the cadets back in Chaos Theory...here we see that he did it by drilling out the front of the body....YIKES!
• Rewind and Tailgate start calling the briefcase a "Time Case" in this issue, confusing both Chromedome and Riptide as to why
• The two generic cops coming out of Roller for the brawl are using Wheelarch and Springarm's character models.
• The Functionist council is revealed to have created Empurata (and most likely Shadowplay too)
• Whirl's original face and hands are shown in this issue (see above)
• It was implied that someone gave away Shockwave's location at the end of Shadowplay, here it is hinted that it may have been Chromedome here and now to have done that.
• The events of issue one with the spark radiation is revealed to have taken place during the start of Megatron: Origin, as Proteus was having the mine closed down for automation.
• Megatron is shown with a blue spark at the end of this issue, despite being claimed to be a point one percenter....wonder if this will have anything to do with the green spark Brainstorm harvested in Remain in Light?

The Eye Wear of your Fandom

I just recently got some new glasses, and I love them! What does this have to do with you guys? Absolutely nothing! Except it makes a semi-decent segue to my topic for today.

When you are part of a fandom for any franchise, especially one that has lasted for a few dozen years you begin to see people act in ways that you cannot understand in regards to events in the fandom. This can be divided fairly easily into the following three sections, which I have named after three pieces of eye wear.

Rose Tinted Glasses

The first piece of eye wear is one that you have no doubt heard of before, the "Rose Tinted Glasses". Basically this refers to someone remembering something fondly, often from their childhood, or due to who or what is involved, and is often affected by nostalgia, rather than reality.

Imagine you are a child, and it is Saturday morning, you run downstairs in your feety pyjamas and turn on the old analogue TV and watch a cartoon, you love it, you obsess over it, and you remember it for the good things only.

Fast forward about 20 years or so, and you are in a Media store, you find a DVD of that same TV series, and decide to buy it for your nostalgia, you get home and watch it, but it's NOTHING like what you remember from your childhood.

What happens next depends on you as a person, you either accept that things when you were a child just SEEMED better due to your age, and as you grew up, so did your tastes, OR you absolutely refuse to accept reality and convince yourself that the series hasn't changed at all, and is in fact even better than before, maybe the GREATEST SHOW EVER CREATED!!!!

Beer Goggles

The second piece of Fandom Eye Wear is one that you may have heard of as well, the Beer Goggles!

Despite their name, these are not exclusively to do with alcohol, any substance that can alter your perception in some manner, such as alcohol, narcotics, maybe even sugar (SUPER HYPER FUN TIME MODE!!!) can make you remember and react to things in a different way to how you would do normally when "sober".

As an example, Bob Bobberson has come home from a night at the pub, and is flicking through the TV for something to watch, he finds a cool TV show he's never seen before about vampires, and witches and other supernatural creatures. It's gory and cool, and exactly what he likes, he watches it, and then falls asleep.

Six months later, he's hanging out with some friends, and they want a show to watch, when he remembers this show that he watched when drunk, he tells them all about it, and they want to watch it too, so he finds some episodes online, and they watch it...

Turns out it's a show called "The Lair" and it's a soft core porn gay soap opera series, and they laugh at him as a result. Poor Bob.

Shit Stained Spectacles

The final piece of eye wear is one that you will NOT have heard of, because I've named it myself, this one should be fairly self-explanatory. You are looking into a film, or anything, when you hear something about it from an external source, then that stains your opinion on it, whether for the better, or the worse (maybe the shit is actually chocolate?)

Imagine you hear about a new film adaptation of....I dunno, Megaman being announced, you immediately think "oh cool!" then you hear a piece of information attached to the film, for example, it will be directed by Bob Bobberson.

Now depending on Bob's reputation for directing in the past, you will have a pre-existing opinion on what that film would be like, which is hard to get rid of, even if the rest of the cast is great, you'll consider it a terrible film, just because you hate Bob, or you'll love it, despite it being a train wreck, because Bob can do no wrong!

I hope you enjoyed my explanation of the eye wear of your various fandoms, and hope you can see yourself or your friends in at least some of these examples. Let me know if you have any other topics you'd like me to discuss in the future, and I hope to see you read my work again in the future! 

CHEERS!

IDW - Angry Birds Transformers #3

Title: Revenge of the Fowlin'!

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Marcelo Ferreira

Colours by: Nikos Koutsis

Flats by: Mike Toris

Letters by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: David Hedgecock

Plot

The Autobirds and Deceptihogs join forces to fight the invading Eggbots, during the initial fight however Starscream Pig is captured by the Eggbots and taken inside one of their towers. After a brief argument between the two leaders, the group splits up into smaller teams to handle multiple missions. Heatwave Bird's team are sent to capture one of the eggs so they can study it and discover what happened to them, whilst Arcee Bird's team are sent to rescue Starscream, and everyone else are to continue fighting the Eggbots.

Arcee's team reaches the tower, but within a few seconds Bluestreak Bird is captured, though Lockdown Pig is glad as the Autobird was annoying him.

Elsewhere, Galvatron Pig is goin full out to kill the Eggbots, despite their mission to capture one. Heatwave tries to stop him, but is easily sent flying by the Deceptihog.

Inside the tower, Bluestreak Bird manages to break out of his binds, and drags Starscream Pig away with him through the tower, trying to escape.

Outside, Arcee Bird's team are trying to smash into the tower, but are suddenly surrounded by Eggbots. Meanwhile, Galvatron is still on a rampage until Heatwave comes flying through the sky in vehicle mode (having slingshotted himself from 10 miles away) and knocks out Galvatron Pig. Before anything else can happpen though, the group are surrounded by Eggbots too.

Back inside the tower, the captives find a room filled with Eggbots, without their mechanical shells (and with terrifying mouths and tongues). Blustreak Bird abandons his companion and manages to get himself out of the tower, followed by a hoard of Eggs, who encounter the other Egggbots outside, scaring both sides, forcing them to run away from each other, much to the confusion of the Autobirds and Deceptihogs.

Arcee Bird's team returns to the rest of the group, and Bluestreak Bird just realizes that he abandoned Starscream Pig, despite that being their mission.

Heatwave arrives, carrying Galvatron, the Minion Pigs and Soundwave (despite him not being in stasis lock) and a still living small Eggbot for the group to study.

Starscream Pig, on top of the tower starts screaming at the others that the Eggspark has taken root, and has begun Cyberforming Piggie Island.....

Characters

Autobirds

Optimus Prime Bird - Truck Cab

Arcee Bird - Car

Bluestreak Bird - Sidecar Motorcycle

Heatwave Bird - Fire Truck

Drift Bird - Car

Jazz Bird - Car

Bumblebee Bird - Car

Grimlock Bird - Motorcycle

Deceptihogs

Megatron Pig - Tank

Galvatron Pig - Truck Cab

Soundwave Pig - Van

Lockdown Pig - Car

Starscream Pig - Jet

Minion Pigs

Other

Eggbots

Notes

• The title is of course a reference to Revenge of the Fallen
• Heatwave, the big silent muscle-bot of the group turning into a dancing flower at one point is of course a reference to Groot in the 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
• The slingshot that Heatwave is shown to use to launch at Galvatron is based on the ones used in the regular Angry Birds games
• For some reason the eggs with mouths and the ones with mechanical suits are afraid of each other...
• The Eggspark seems to be Cyberforming Piggie Island (and likely further in the world later) into a replica Cybertron. The Allspark was shown using that same ability in the Titan UK alternate universe comics.
• Optimus Prime Bird and Megatron Pig momentarily call eachother by their Cybertronian counterpart's names, and even seem to act out of character...maybe they should change back before long huh?
• Bumblebee Bird STILL has a damaged vocal processor....UGH!

TFCC - A Common Foe

Writer: Jesse Wittenrich

Layouts: David Reynolds

Art: Josh Burcham

Letters: Jesse Wittenrich

Plot

Following Jhiaxus' ultimatum for the Autobots and Decepticons to surrender to him, or die, the combined forces continue their attacks on the Clone army. The team focus on Sandstorm, who was betraying them from the inside as a clone, however Obsidian reveals that Pyro reported to him that he real Sandstorm was on Earth just 5 days ago, meaning that he knew this Sandstorm was a fake all along! As a result he was able to plant a Mekarach (a spider bot thingie) onto him, to use his Spark energy to send a signal to Earth.

Pyro receives the Mekarach pulse on Earth and begins to send more troops to Cybertron, including several Earth-born ones. The troops arrive and immediately start tearing through the Cybertronian Clones, including the Soundwave clone.

Megaplex, who has been released from the Clone army due to his similarities to Megatron, is plagued by images of the former Decepticon leader, saying that he will use Megaplex to reclaim the Decepticons. However Megaplex fights back and "kills" Megatron, deciding to go after Jhiaxus himself anyway.

Eagle Eye manages to spy Jhiaxus from far away, so they start to head towards him. They manage to break into the facility he's hiding in using Krok's partner Gatoraider to eat through the walls, and starts fighting the Clones inside

Elsewhere, Mirage and Electro fight with Skywarp and his drones, but are saved from certain death by Blue Bacchus and his newly arrived team of Decepticons. Next Octane is pinned down by some Thundercracker Drones and is rescued by Strika, who in turn is rescued by Octane from another attacker.

Serpentor and the others reach Jhiaxus, where Jhiaxus is impressed by Serpentor being made fully by humans, rather than being tainted by Cybertronians, but Serpentor doesn't care, and skewers the Cybertronian with his Serpent Sceptre. Next, Nacelle turns up and the Clone Hubcap prepares to execute him, but Jhiaxus stops him, telling him that this is what he wanted, a united Cybertron against a common foe, and as such he surrenders to Serpentor.

However before he can be officially taken away Megaplex turns up and kills Jhaixus. The other Decepticons knock out their would-be leader, telling him they don't need another Megatron.

One week later, on Earth the war has ended, and all the factions sign the Pax Cybertronia, bringing all hostilities to an end. However, elsewhere Sky-Byte has joined forces with the other Predacons and have stolen many of Jhiaxus' clone pods, planning to use them to make their own Predacon army. But they do question by four of them are coloured differently to the others, just as Tarantulas steps out of his tube....

Characters

Autobot

Pyro - Fire Truck

Strika - Tank

Obsidian - Twin Propeller Plane

Electro - Pick Up Truck

Mirage - F1 Race Car

Hoist - Pick Up Truck

Override - Motorcycle

Turbofire - Pick Up Truck

Carzap - Muscle Car

Rapido - Sports Car

Backstreet - Race Car

Gunrunner - Fighter Jet

Sandstorm - Helicopter/Buggy

Rotorstorm - Helicopter

Hubcap - Sports Car

Nightracer - Sports Car

Side Burn - Race Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Clampdown - Police Car

Blastcharge Drones - Tanks

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned) In Coma

Springer (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Serpentor - Stealth Bomber

Gob - Chainsaw

Zad - Axe

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Octane - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Hotlink - Fighter Jet

Nacelle - Fighter Jet

Eagle Eye - Fighter Jet

Bitstream - Fighter Jet

Sunstorm - Fighter Jet

Krok - Stealth Bomber

Gatoraider - Rocket Launcher

Magnificus - Van

Oilmaster

Blue Bacchus - Helicopter

Scourge - Stealth Bomber

Megatron (In Megaplex's Mind) "Killed" by Megaplex

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) In Coma

Cyclonus - Space Jet (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Jhiaxus - Stealth Jet Killed by Megaplex

Megaplex - Fighter Jet

Sandstorm - Helicopter

Hubcap - Tow Truck

Prowl - F1 Race Car

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier Killed by Krok

Sandstorm Drones - Helicopters

Thundercracker Drones - Fighter Jets

Skywarp Drones - Fighter Jets

Prowl Drones - F1 Race Cars

Predacon

Sky-Byte - Shark

Dark Scream - Flying Squirrel

Slapper - Toad

Rampage - Tiger 

Tantrum - Buffalo 

Tarantulas - Motorcycle

Cicadacon

Sea Clamp

Ram Horn

Notes

• This comic is set immediately after Termination, but before Hoist the Flag. It was released online (only) after Hoist the Flag was released though
• Despite being heavily outnumbered and overpowered at the end of Termination, the Autobots and Decepticons easily defeat the Clones here! Yay for quick resolutions!
• The real Autobot Sandstorm is shown using his new Thrilling Thirty toy mold
• This comic essentially acts as both a quick resolution for the unpopular Machine Wars storyline, and as an advert for the upcoming 3rd series of the Fan Subscription Series.
• Several of the new characers here also use new bodies based on newer toys too, giving us some potential new exclusives for the future.
• Serpentor uses a Serpent Sceptre made from the Arms Micron figures Gob 2 and Zad 2 (you could also make a black version using their black repaints I guess)
• According to Jhiaxus, his whole plan was to unite the Autobots and Decepticons together as a single force to bring peace to Cybertron....I'd say that's just Jhiaxus being a sore loser!
• The new Decepticons are shown to be fed up of the old ways and war as well, and immediately take down Megaplex despite his plans to reforge the Decepticons as an evil force.
• Side Burn and Night Racer are still hanging out it seems....Oooooooh!!
• Scourge is shown in his Wings of Honour toy character model, this seems very out of place due to his Generations toy having been released since then (and it being used for Serpentor's body model too)
• This story shows Sky Byte joining forces with the existing Decepticon Predacons, and forging their new faction. It also shows the births of Slapper and Night Scream (but no Gas Skunk) and also shows the births of Tarantulas and the Tripredacus Council, from strange differently coloured stasis tubes.
• We're shown here that Hubcap and Sandstorm are both still alive...WHY THE HELL DID JHIAXUS CLONE THEM?!?!

TFCC - Solar Requiem

Story by: Jesse Wittenrich

Art by: Hidetsugu Yoshioka

Translation by: Andrew Hall

Plot

Blaster, still stuck on Earth's Moon with Rewind and Ramhorn encounter a strange spacial anomoly that briefly turns them all into their G1 counterparts, when suddenlly a bright, but tiny space ship appears, and heads to the Moon.

On Cybertron, the newly arrived survivors of the now destroyed Classicsverse start to make themselves at home, but Kick-Off won't allow himself to work with Decepticons, as he doesn't trust them, so he leaves.

Meanwhile, Wheeljack has just sent Soundwave's mind to a new body on Earth through his new Mental Spanner, so that he can assist Starscream in some work over there, repairing electrical systems that were damaged thanks to the energy from Classics Earth's transport. Galvatron and the others on Cybertron start working on completing the Stellar Spanner on their end.

Back on the Moon again, Rewind is scanned by the alien inside the pod, who takes on a similar appearance to him, and begins to ask Blaster and the other Autobots for help with his planet's dying star. Blaster takes advantage of this situation though and has the newly arrived Solarbot fly him and the others back down to Earth in his ship.

On Earth, Soundwave , Slugfest and Bat-Bot are working on repairs when suddenly Blaster and his crew arrive and begin an attack. During the battle, Solarbot is accidentally hit and is knocked into cassette mode. Blaster picks it up and inserts it into his chest, intending to use his solar powers to increase his own exponentially 

Unfortunately for him though, Solarbot recovers very quickly, and overloads him, before exiting his body straight through the chest. Blaster and his cassettes flee, and Soundwave greets the newcomer and asks if he needs help.

Characters

Shattered Glass Decepticon

Galvatron - Rescue Helicopter

Starscream - Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Van in alternate body)

Bat-Bot - Cassette

Slugfest - Cassette

Esmeral

Reflector - Camera

Counterpunch - Sports Car

Cyclonus - Space Jet

Heatwave - Multiple Missile Truck (Mentioned)

Stonecruncher - Double Crane Truck (Mentioned)

Shattered Glass Autobot

Blaster - Boom Box

Rewind - Cassette

Ramhorn - Cassette

Autobot

Metalhawk - Fighter Jet

Kick-Off - Sports Car

Wheeljack - Race Car

Tracks - Muscle Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Perceptor - Microscope

Cliffjumper - Sports Car

Blaster - Boom Box (Dimensional Distortion Only)

Rewind - Cassette (Dimensional Distortion Only)

Ramhorn - Cassette (Dimensional Distortion Only)

Other

Solarbot - Cassette

Notes

• This story was made between Fun Publications and E-Hobby, and was made for the then new Shattered Glass Blaster vs Soundwave set.
• As such Soundwave's new body is based on this new toy, despite him having just gotten a new toy based on the more modern Universe Ironhide toy (which still seems to be around btw)
• This would appear to be set VERY soon after the end of Invasion, but Tracks, Jazz and Wheeljack are all shown in new bodies, and Wheeljack has had a chance to build a "mental spanner" since then.
• Also, why did the Classics-verse version of Wheeljack call his device a "Mental Spanner"? Shouldn't it be "Mental Space Bridge" or something?
• Bat-Bot is the crime-fighting alter-ego of mild mannered businessman Ratbat....sounds familiar!
• Cliffjumper can be seen being very distrustful of Counterpunch in the background of one panel...his traitor-hunting skills continue!
• Solarbot clearly comes from the Classics universe as he assumed the Autobots were heroic
• Sadly this also means that the dying star he was trying to save would have just been wiped out by Ultra Magnus and his plan....yikes!
• Cyclonus is shown up and about with Galvatron, meaning that he's been released from jail for Megatron's assassination.
• Blaster has been stuck on Earth's Moon since the end of "Blitzwing Bop"

IDW - Transformers #37

Title: Onyx Interface Part 3: ONOFFON

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez & Thomas Deer

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Thundercracker is flying over Bikini Atoll, waiting for something. Sanjay reports this to Faireborn, who just tells him to watch the situation, and to make sure he doesn't find the clone army underneath the base.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Arcee begins her stand-off with Galvatron, the Decepticons and the Constructicons, but quickly decides she can't be bothered, and flies off with Jimmy. Galvatron gives her chase, and Jimmy is abducted by Buzzsaw.

Galvatron flies Arcee into space, where they smash into a satellite, then Arcee rockets both of them down again, this time landing in the Australian outback (we know it is there because of the kangaroos!) where Galvatron says he wants to talk with her.

Prowl and Spike talk in the forest and Spike is glad that Prowl forgives him, as he assumes that he's finally seeing things his way, but Prowl tells him that he just simply sees now that the Cybertronian race is dangerous, and keeps repeating it's own dark history of wars and violence, so he wants the Enigma of Combination to stop it once and for all. He reveals to Spike that he thinks Galvatron killed his father to try and get him on his side.

Blackrock, Faireborn and Jones arrive in Wanmu where Blackrock shows them his Cybertronian artefacts, which does indeed include the Enigma of Combination, which he attributes humanity's technological advancements to.

Back in Australia Galvatron tells Arcee that Prowl killed Witwicky, shocking her, but she can't 100% deny it, Galvatron explains it as a side-effect of the Gestalt process, where it robs the components of individuality and reasoning, and proposes to her that they should team up to destroy the Enigma so that NO ONE can use it.

The two of them return to Mount Fuji, where the Decepticon's shuttle is now, and Jimmy is being held safe.

Behind the moon, Kup learns about Prowl and Arcee's separate trips to Earth from Sky Lynx and Sideswipe, despite Prime's orders, but the latter two don't see what harm could come from this little excursion....

Spike leads Prowl and the Constructicons to the Wanmu facility, where Prowl puts some of the stealth paint onto his clothing to help hide him more, when inside Spike quickly locates the trophy room, and identifies the Enigma, he reports this to Prowl, when sudddenly Prowl learns that a Decepticon shuttle is heading to the facility too from Cosmos, and that the EDC are inside the facility.

Prowl thanks Spike for his help, then forms Devastator with the others and attacks the facility. Blackrock reacts by setting off a program that launches all the Thrust and Ramjet clones from the Bikini Atoll base and sends them towards the Wanmu facility to fight the giant Cybertronian

Characters

Autobot

Prowl - Police SUV

Arcee - Sports Car

Cosmos - Orbiter

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Alpha Trion (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet

Rumble - Motorcycle

Frenzy - Motorcycle

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Laserbeak - Cassette

Ramjet Dead (Head Only)

Thrust - Jet Dead

Mini-Constructicon Dead

Scrapper - Front End Loader (Mentioned) Dead

Cybertronian

Devastator - Constructicon and Prowl Gestalt

Hook - Crane

Scavenger - Excavator

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Scoop - Front End Loader

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Jhiaxus - Jet (Mentioned)

Human

Spike Witwicky

Jimmy Pink

Marissa Faireborn

Garrison Blackrock

Agent Jones

Sanjay Bharwanay

EDC Personnel

Wanmu Facility Staff

General Daniel Witwicky (Mentioned) Dead

Gilgamesh (Mentioned)

Other

Ramjet Drones - Jets

Thrust Drones - Jets

Notes

• Galvatron is shown to be able to fly using his arm cannon, and thrusters in his feet, much like he did in the 80's movie.
• Prowl most likely knows about Galvatron killing Spike's father because he was in the computer at that time.
• Amongst the things in Blackrock's collection are a Spacebridge (most likely how the story will shift to Combiner Wars on Cybertron) and a trio of cars that look like Slicer (it could be him!) a Machination Sunstreaker clone, and a Ford Model-T that looks like the Mutation from the Sector-7 comics.
• It's implied here that the Enigma of Combination united minds, making them work better and has been used by humans to develop their technology over the years.
• Galvatron is STILL trying to blame Prowl for General Witwicky's death...could it have been just edited footage that we were shown?
• Galvatron implies here that female Cybertronians were around back in the earliest days, but were rendered extinct somehow, and Jhiaxus was just re-introducing them with his experiments on Arcee. This is backed up by the natural creation of Windblade and her friends, the female Cybertronians seen from time to time in flashbacks, and of course Solus Prime herself being namedropped.
• Jimmy is trying to explain the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" to the Decepticons, but Rumble doesn't seem to know what a movie is (which is odd since the Lost Lighters had Movie Nights in season one of MTMTE)