IDW - The Transformers #46

Title: Conquerors Part 1: Aphelion 

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Galvatron joins Needlenose, Brawl and Dreadwing on stage addressing the Decepticons via a hologram, and encourages them to join them on the Jupiter commune, as the conquerors they truly are, and seems to get a massive response from the crowd.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime is meeting with the Mistress of Flame on Caminus, where she poses to him that despite Cybertron's current and past corruption, Optimus is a good person, and should strive to help other worlds as a leader, saying that he's done this with Caminus, and that he should try the same with Earth, rather than letting them stay allied with the Decepticons.

Optimus returns to Cybertron, where he meets with Windblade, who explains to him about the Colony Worlds they have on the Council of Worlds now. Whilst walking, they come across an argument between the Dinobots and the Camien Prime Picketers, as the Dinobots are still sore with Optimus over his actions and opinions during the events of "Punishment". Aileron gets fed up and shoves Slug for insulting the Prime, but in his drunken state, Slug is easily convinced that it didn't happen, and is dragged away by Swoop and Sludge.

In the aftermath, Aileron's friend Sterling decides to give up, and races away. Left alone, Aileron is approached by Optimus, who commends her on how she dealt with the Dinobots, resulting in Aileron freaking out and kneeling to the Prime. Optimus asks her to stand up, as he wants her to explain what he means to her, as he wants to understand the deism he's been given.

On Earth, Jazz has been captured by Blackrock and placed into a strange liquid that is slowly breaking apart his body to try and use his base elements to form Lonsdaleite, which is used to create a storage device for Blackrock's experiments, and he gloats about how he's able to due this with the Decepticons busy with the Jupiter Colony, and the Autobots either captured, or trapped inside the forcefield of the Ark in orbit.

On the Nemesis, underwater, Galvatron prepares the Decepticons to attack the Ark-7, as they want to get to the Spacebridge before either Arcee decides to destroy the ship after escaping, or the Humans re-capture it, as he knows that Blackrock must be involved in the ship's malfunction.

On the Ark-7, the Autobots are fighting their way to the Space Bridge room, whilst dealing with the ship's automated security systems.

Back on Cybertron, Optimus and Aileron go for a drive/fly where he explains that he has no-one really left to talk to, as the only people he could do so candidly with were Prowl, whom he tried to kill before going missing, and Windblade, who sees him as a god. Aileron reveals that on Caminus, things were bad, and she didn't believe in the Primes any more, until a Space Bridge opened, and a Prime was revealed to be real, and he brought Cybertron and help to the dying planet, giving her a legitimate reason to believe him to be a god. She also explains to him that if he wants more information on Caminus' views towards him, it would be best to see the Torchbearers, who are now staying in the worst part of Cybertron.

A ship full of Decepticon migrants arrives at the Jupiter Commune, who are greeted by Soundwave, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak, however Soundwave also receives a communication from Cosmos, who thinks the other Autobots are dead, and he's scared. Soundwave invites him onboard the Commune for safety.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream is talking to his hallucination of Bumblebee about how everyone is talking about him, and plotting against him, suddenly Rattrap comes in with Brawl, Needlenose and Dreadwing, asking for use of the Space Bridge for a while, and for him to look the other way 

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Alpha Trion - Tumbler

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Jazz - Sports Car Captured, being dissolved

Cosmos - Orbiter

Slug - Triceratops

Sluidge - Apatosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon 

Wheeljack - Race Car

Bumblebee Hallucination

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Jetfire - Jet (Mentioned)

Kup - Pick Up Truck (Mentioned)

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Buzzsaw - Cassette

Laserbeak - Cassette

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Brawl - Tank

Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train

Blitzwing - Fighter Jet/Tank

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet Hooked to the Nemesis

Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet

Sky-Byte - Flying Shark

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Flamefeather - Bird Monster

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Cindersaur - Lizard Monster

Sinnertwin - Twin Headed Dragon

Squeezeplay - Crab Monster

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Colonist

Mistress of Flame

Aileron - Jet

Sterling - Hovercar

New Torchbearers

Victorion Torchbearers

Pyra Magna - Emergency Vehicle (Flashback)

Swift - Helicopter (Mentioned)

Elita One (Mentioned)

Devisens (Mentioned)

Eukarians (Mentioned)

Velocitronians (Mentioned)

Human

Garrison Blackrock

Spike Witwicky

Other

Primus (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Nova Major/Prime (Mentioned)

Notes

• Several of the paired pages in this issue mirror each other somewhat, showing different groups of characters having similar scenarios playing out etc.
• The other two Camien picketers shown in a previous issue are named here, and the previously named Aileron is given more of a spotlight in this issue.
• Despite being based design-wise on the Go-Bot Crasher, Aileron is actually quite a nice lady!
• Despite the scene shown on the cover, Galvatron doesn't encounter any Autobots, or fight at all in this issue.
• The Ark-7 is shown to have several more drones based on D.O.C.'s design on board, but that are connected to the Ark's controls more closely than Cosmos' pet.
• The new Torchbearers appear top have a different unified colourscheme than the ones we were introduced to in Combiner Hunters.
• It appears that the Victorion Torchbearers have resigned their position to the Mistress of Flame and remained at the Sea of Rust following Combiner Hunters too.
• With his travelling to the commune, it appears that Sky-Byte has rejoined the Decepticons, but as a non-combatant
• Oddly, Soundwave seems to legitimately care about Cosmos being safe!
• The Mistress of Flame's idea to have Optimus go to Earth and help them more is in allusion to the future "All Hail Optimus" storyline coming up in 2016
• Arcee's role as leader on Earth is confirmed by Optimus here, as despite his higher rank, Optimus felt that Jazz wasn't capable of being subjective on Earth still.
• Alpha Trion mentions the Enigma of Combination, Star Sabre and Onyx Triptych being misused now. We know about the Enigma, the Onyx Triptych is most likely what Blackrock is using or trying to create, but where's the Star Sabre?!

IDW - Transformers vs G.I. Joe #9

Title: Stick to your guns

Written, Drawn, Coloured and Letters by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Laird Mac Cullen, along with one of his loyal warriors and his mute brother visit a land where they seek to see some sleeping gods. The guards from a Serpent cult allow them to enter the cavern, but only if they promise to not touch anything within the cavern, or to disturb the gods.

Inside the cavern, the mute brother finds a small glowing cube on the floor and seems to be possessed by it, he inserts it into a slot, despite complaints from his brother and friend. This action actives Teletran-One, who sends out a Sky Spy drone to scan the trio of humans, who are stunned by the strange language it is speaking.

In the aftermath one of the "gods" wakes up, and scares the humans, causing them to attack it with their swords and flaming torches, during this attack, the energon cube inserted into the computer runs out, and the "god" and Sky Spy collapse. Afterwards, the humans salvage parts from the "god" assuming it was a test from the gods, and see this as their reward.

The trio leave the cavern, and are attacked by the serpents for stealing from the gods, and the Cullens are forced to flee on their boat.

The trio return to their land with their ship destroyed, and the loyal warrior dying from his injuries, once there however, the brother reveals that he has gained the ability to speak, and says that the gods have told them to "Transform".

Soon, the warrior dies from his injuries, and is given a funeral on a pyre, which lights up the night, revealing the Viking ships, who have come to invade the land are here.

The Vikings from the Giant Island Jotunheim invade the highlands, but are countered by Mac Cullen and his troops. Despite his confidence, having been gifted by the "gods" the Laird is killed by the Vikings. His brother goes to defend his body before the Vikings can get there, and uses his new invention, of a gun to kill one of the head Vikings, and he dons the stolen "god's" face before the Vikings flee the magical weapon.

Later, the brother, now identifying as Destro returns to the god's island where he learns that the serpents revealed the Highland's location to the Jotuns, as revenge for stealing from the gods. Destro uses his new gun to kill the serpents and takes over the land.

Over time, Destro has a castle built on the island, over the Ark and develops his technology there, and even uncovers the ability to surpass death by modifying his body to it's current form, and uses the technology he's acquired to supply weapons to both sides of every war since his empire was forged.

After World War 1, Destro had his castle moved to California, as he foresaw some new action happening in the near future.

Towards the end of the 20th Century Cobra Commander visits Destro and pays him off to only supply weapons to him and his Cobra army, meaning that he'll have the advantage in the war against GI Joe, to which Destro agrees

Characters

Human

Destro/Mac Cullen's Brother

Laird Mac Cullen Killed by GI Jotuns

Mac Cullen Clan Warrior Killed by Serpent Druids

Aberneth the Hawk-Helmed

Thor FalkenHauser Killed by Future Destro

Cobra Commander

Baroness Swin Suit Models

Cobra Vipers

Mac Cullen's People

Giant Island Jotunheim Vikings

Cybertronian

Mini-Cassette Guy Destroyed by Mac Cullen and team

Teletran-One

Inert Transformers on the Ark

Other

Serpent Druids

Notes

• Surprisingly, this issue is probably the best of the series...that doesn't mean it's good, it just isn't as brain-smackingly bad as the rest so far.
• Once again, the front cover has absolutely nothing to do with the contents.
• The Cobra cult guys are most likely related to Koh-Buru-Lah in some way.
• The Ark's location and condition is very similar to it's G1 cartoon counterpart.
• The Transformers in the Ark use familiar character models, but due to colours they are unidentifiable
• One of the things stolen by Mac Cullen is a Transformer's face, which is later used for Destro's robotic face.
• It's unclear how future Destro gained the ability to speak...it may be due to the Sky Spy unit, but it seems unlikely since there's no reason for it's scan to fix his muteness.
• The ancient Joes (from Giant Island Jotunheim) are shown to be an invading Viking army who like to kill and even have some very rapey faces when they prepare to finish off Destro and his brother.
• How did Destro get the time to design and build his gun? The Vikings appeared just after the funeral, which appears to have happened just after they returned home!
• It turns out Destro's whole empire of weapons production etc has been made from using the technology he's claimed from the Ark.
• The ladies on the last page all look like Baroness, but in swim-suits, much like how similarly dressed women are used in (mostly) American TV shows to show off glamorous prizes.

IDW - Robots in Disguise Animated #3

Written by: Georgia Ball

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edits by: John Barber

Plot

The Autobots are hanging out in the scrapyard talking about their favourite TV show "Bin Battles" and how they would have done better in the show than the actual contestants. During this discussion, Fixit informs Bumblebee about his research into Clipshade, and locates another of his Cybercomrade allies, a Buffaloid named Overhead, who has been located at an abandoned storage facility 40 miles out of the city Bumblebee splits the team into two groups, Bee, Grimlock and Strongarm will go after Overhead, whilst Sideswipe, Denny and Russell go out to the other Storage facilities in the area, so as to distract Magnus' team whilst they go after their real target.

Whilst the Autobots are busy, Overhead steals the cargo from a security team working at the Crown City Municipal Bank, by disguising as their van, and drives off.

Later, Overhead returns to the abandoned storage facility that she's using as a hide-out, where Bee and the others are already waiting for her. The team try to confuse her and capture her in the same way they defeated previous Buffaloid prisoner Terrashock, but she is revealed to be smarter than her co-prisoner, and is able to fight off the Autobots, but does end up surrendering when she points out that all she wants to do is go back home, and offers to give up her real boss, since Clipshade is just a stooge. She gives the Autobots a transmitter with a signal that will call out her boss, so long as they don't put her back in a stasis cell.

Bumblebee and Grimlock head away to set up the transmitter, whilst Strongarm babysits Overhead, and Sideswipe is still stuck at the other storage units, where Denny has become engrossed in bidding on the storage units himself.

Before long, someone responds to the transmitter, who is revealed to be Clipshade. Bumblebee exposes himself and asks how he escaped from Ultra Magnus' custody, but after a short fight, Clipshade reveals that he's a double agent working for Magnus, and he was captured originally, and on purpose to get himself engrossed into the Cybercomrade Sect as a spy to try and find out who the mysterious head of the group is

At the storage unit, Strongarm wanders into the unit, and realizes that the equipment stolen by Overhead isn't actual just random junk, it's all ingredients for a space bridge! Overhead gets herself easily free from her cuffs and knocks out Strongarm, before taking her equipment revealing herself to be the head of the Cybercomrade Sect.

Soon, the Autobots, including Clipshade arrive at the storage unit, where Clipsahde reveals himself to be an actor actually named Spectrosynth. Afterwards, Magnus and his team appear, and say that it's time for answers....

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fixit

Ultra Magnus - Truck Cab

Arcee - Motorcycle

Bulkhead - Off Road Vehicle

Clipshade/Spectrosynth - Sports Car 

Autobots in Flashback (Flashback only)

Decepticon

Overhead - Security Van

Megatron - Space Jet (Mentioned)

Cybercomrade Sect (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Security Driver Joe

Joe's Co-worker

"Collector Kenny" (Mentioned)

"Kenny's Uncle Gene" (Mentioned)

"Bargain Billy" (Mentioned)

Notes

• "Bin Battles" is a parody of programs like "Storage Hunters"
• Being a Buffaloid, Overhead shares a character model, with some minor differences with Terrashock, but unlike him, she isn't an enforcer.
• The "Morton Donuts" sign is missing some letters that makes it spell out "Moron Nut" when Denny is hanging it up...HAH!
• Overhead's comment that her "compartments have compartments" is similar to Rung's comments on his own body in More Than Meets The Eye.
• Some of the Autobots in the flashback look a little familiar, with some appearing to resemble Prowl and Blades, and one even seemingly having TFA Grandus' head model.
• The mystery of Clipshade's gun not working last issue is unceremoniously revealed here to be because it's not a gun, it's a light projector....ahem...
• So...why exactly couldn't Magnus and the others tell Bee and his team about Clipshade being a double agent?! Even if they only told Bumblebee it would have made sense!

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #45

Title: Some of my Best Friends are Autobots

Written by: James Roberts

Pencils by: Alex Milne

Inks by: Brian Shearer with Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Page 1 Photograph: Maziar Shahsafdari

Letters: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Since we last saw them, the Scavengers have had a slew of adventures, from landing on a planet where they are forced to sing, having Shockwave exiting a data-pad, saving the universe from a being using a Jenga set, and strangest of all, ending up as toys on a strange photo-realistic planet.

Today, the Scavengers have been turned against each other, Fulcrum, Krok and Grimlock have been taken out, and Misfire is under heavy attack from Spinister, however before Spinister can finish off his target, Crankcase swoops in and shoots his own rubber dart at Misfire's head, winning the game.

The group start to moan at Crankcase, since he wasn't even playing the game, when Krok suddenly realizes that no-one's piloting the shuttle, which quickly crashes into a mountain.

Four hours later, Misfire is trying to teach Grimlock how to write his name down, Grimlock manages to write down a scrawled "G", Misfire congratulates him, until he notices that Grimlock has spilt energon on the floor, causing Misfire to briefly get angry, but then asks what happened to him, resulting in Grimlock grabbing Misfire's neck.

Fulcrum and Crankcase are hanging out in the TV room where they are watching the stand-up routine of Skullcruncher, who has become a self-deprecating Decepticon comic, who is very popular on Cybertron right now. During the stand-up he mocks how the Infiltration process makes no sense, and claims that he always knew Megatron would switch sides.

Krok wakes up in the corridor, having been still unconscious from the crash when he heads to the TV room and gets annoyed that Skullcruncher has made a new life for himself, like several of his other old contacts and friends, and he's jealous of their abilities to leave the war, and smashes the TV.

Suddenly Grimlock smashes into the TV room (or I guess room-room now) with Misfire hanging off his neck, trying to calm him down. Crankcase manages to stop him by blasting him with his shoulder cannons, knocking him out. The other Scavengers moan at Misfire about how he's now rehabilitated the Dinobot yet, when Spinister appears in the room, to tell them that the "giant TV" is talking to him again.

On the bridge, Krok and Misfire respond to the communication from Krok's old friend Demus, who has a business proposition for them on his private moon.

The team head over there, and Demus insists that the Scavengers take a temporary suppressant to hinder their alternate modes, as he becomes violently ill if he sees an alternate mode. Demus takes the Scavengers to his office where he offers to buy their prisoner, Grimlock, from them for half a billion Shanix each. Demus receives a message and leaves, allowing the Scavengers to discuss their decision. Most of them are happy to do this, but Misfire has become attached to Grimlock, and doesn't want him hurt, whilst Fulcrum is concerned with why Grimlock, who is brain damaged, would be worth so much money to Demus.

In the scrapyard, Demus is talking to a mysterious party over his communicator about how they had a deal for both of their protections, when he suddenly comes face to face with someone he's been hiding from...

In the office, the Scavengers have voted 3-2 to sell Grimlock, suddenly Demus is thrown through the window, and executed by the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, Fortress Maximus, who asks the Scavengers "who's next?"

Characters

Decepticon

Misfire - Jet

Krok - Monoformer

Crankcase - Van

Spinister - Helicopter

Fulcrum - Bomb

Demus - Monoformer Killed by Fortress Maximus

Skullcruncher - Alligator (On TV)

Overlord - Jet and Tank (Mentioned)

Ratbat - Cassette (Mentioned)

Agonizer (Mentioned)

Biteback (Mentioned)

Deathsaurus - Dragon (Mentioned)

Gatoraider (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Autobot

Fortress Maximus - Tank

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Brain Damaged

Other Cybertronian

Demus' Contact (On Communicator)

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Militant Monoform Militia (Mentioned)

Notes

• The Scavengers are back! YAY!
• In place of the usual "previously" page, this issue has a special "previously" section for the Scavenger's adventures since we last saw them.
• It's possible that the panel where Shockwave is exiting a data pad is set during the end of Dark Cybertron, where Shockwave was distorting reality.
• Last time we saw the Scavengers, they were playing Jenga on their ship, here it is revealed that they once saved the universe by playing Jenga too (despite having their memories of the event erased)
• The photograph of the Scavengers as toys uses their G1 toy counterparts, despite most of them having updated toys in recent years.
• The Weak Anthropic Principle is revealed to be based on the G1 Ark's cartoon model, but in more Decepticon colours. It even crashes into a mountain and wakes up "later" like the original ship.
• Misfire has learned since they took him in, that Grimlock didn't escape or get released from Garrus-9 during Overlord's invasion, he simply went missing mysteriously...
• The "G" Grimlock writes on the wall is more than likely a clue of his to what happened to him, possible the first letter of a location or individual that affected him (Maybe Garrus-1?)
• I'm doing this review a week or so late due to illness, but turns out this was a good thing, as in the week after his issue came out, a new Skullcruncher toy was announced by Hasbro...coincidence? MAYBE!?
• Krok was supposedly named after his dead pet. His Action Master accessory partner in the G1 toy line was Gatoraider, who was a crocodile.
• Krok is revealed to be a member of the MMM, a reference to his original Action Master state in the toys.
• Hey look it's Fort Max! ....did you know he's getting a new toy in Titans Return too? HUH!?
• The thing in Krok's hand mentioned in their first appearances is revealed to be a clicker, that he has an obsessive habit of clicking when agitated

IDW - The Transformers #45

Title: The Nothing Man

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Josh Perez

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

At the EDC HQ at Bikini Atoll, Thundercracker is moaning at Marissa to let him see Spike, as he thinks he can get him to talk, since they did "save the world" together during the Decepticon occupation of the planet. Marissa however, doesn't want to hear anything from Spike, it's Blackrock who wants to talk to him alone. During their conversation, Blackrock reveals to Spike that his Onyx interface uses a Cybertronian code that he found, and has essentially "infected" the planet's devices with it.

On the Ark-7, Jetfire is still analysing the Onyx source code, and discovers that whenever he tries to mirror the signal, it changes, as if it's alive in some way. He wants to track the source of the signal on Earth, which Arcee allows, along with a team.

On the Nemesis, Soundwave and Galvatron are preparing for the imminent arrivals of the Decepticons from Cybertron when they detect the Autobots heading to Earth, Soundwave asks if they should inform their allies on Earth, but Galvatron just says not to bother.

Near the South Pole on Earth, Jetfire, Jazz, Kup, Sky Lynx and D.O.C. arrive at a small station that is sending out a signal for the Onyx interface, however before they can do anything there, they are attacked by a group of gestalt monsters made from the Thrust and Ramjet drones, who instantly smash Jetfire into the ground, and quickly disable Kup and Jazz too.

Sky Lynx races off into orbit to try and get reinforcements from the Ark-7, but is chased by the gestalts, who are revealed to have the ability to transform into giant gets too.

Blackrock is watching this fight from Spike's cell, where he reveals that his studies of the Enigma of Combination revealed the power of creating gestalts a long time ago, but he hid it when they were attacked by Prowl, just so they could have an upper-hand later on.

Arcee and Sideswipe deploy the Ark-7's massive weapons supply, and prepare to fire on the gestalts chasing Sky Lynx, however when they open fire the shields are raised as well, and cause the weapons to back-fire and badly damage the shuttle. Sky Lynx also ends up smashing into the ship's shield, and knocks himself out of commission too.

On the ship, Arcee and Sideswipe try to repair the damage and get control of the ship back, but Alpha Trion reveals to them that the Onyx source code they brought onto the ship is in fact the source code for the Enigma of Combination itself, and with it Blackrock has taken control of their systems.

Back on Earth, Blackrock reveals to Spike that he is able to tap into the systems that have installed his Onyx Interface, and with it he can learn everything about anyone, he can even see their souls in the process, however he cannot see his own soul.

He reveals that his reason for imprisoning Spike is so that Spike can find out why he has no soul. Spike isn't sure how he expects him to do this, but Blackrock locks the door behind him anyway...

In the aftermath of this attack, the Autobots are crippled, and Galvatron immediately starts to plan to attack the Ark-7, so they can take control of the space bridge.

Cosmos is in orbit still, trying to reach the teams, and D.O.C. is left abandoned in the South Pole.On the Ark- Arcee and the others appear trapped inside the burning vessel, but Arcee plans to use the space bridge to escape....

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck Smashed by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Jetfire - Jet Smashed by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Jazz - Sports Car Torn Apart by Ramjet/Thrust Combiner

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle Crashed into Ark-7 shields

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Alpha Trion

Cosmos - Orbiter

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Laserbeak - Cassette

Rumble - Motorcycle

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet Attached to Nemesis

Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

D.O.C.

Primus (Mentioned)

Nova Prime (Mentioned)

Nova Prime's C.A.D.R.E. (Mentioned)

Human

Garrison Blackrock

Spike Witwicky

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Sanjay Bharwanay

Other

Thrust/Jetfire Drone Combiners - Giant Jets

Buster the Dog

Notes

• Despite his new-found distrust of them, Thundercracker seems happy to still hang around with the EDC base....you know despite the zombie army in the basement!
• Spike's prisoner uniform features a QR code on the back, though it is mostly obscured so it's unclear what it contains (most likely it'd be his criminal record in continuity)
• The ancient code used for the Onyx interface includes some Decepticon insignias, this is the first indication that the Decepticon insignia may have preceded it's use in the Decepticon's revolution. The Autobot insignia was previously revealed to have been used by a lost tribe in the past too.
• From the dialogue it seems that the previous issue has indeed already happened, judging from the lack of Astrotrain, it's likely he took the other Decepticons back to Cybertron, rather than using the Space Bridge like I'd previously assumed.
• Jetfire's colour scheme in his stealth paint job is based on his "Dark Skyfire" toy counterpart made from his Classics incarnation's toy.
• Jazz is torn apart by one of the Thrust/Ramjet combiners, much like how his movie counterpart was torn apart and killed by Movie Megatron.
• It's revealed that the modern Ark shuttles were designed by Nova Prime's team, previously it was believed the Arks were simply named after the original lost star ship, but this implies that they may have been planned to be a fleet of ships for Nova's expansion originally.
• Blackrock was mentioned as having no records of himself from more than 3 years ago in an earlier issue, this issue adds to the idea that he may not be human or natural with him not having a "soul"

IDW - Transformers: Windblade #7

Title: The Will of the Few

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Corin Howell

Colours by: Thomas Deer with John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Windblade and Starscream return to Cybertron from Eukaris, having secured their place on the Council of Worlds, but Windblade is furious at Starscream for having killed Chela, the Titan. Starscream dismisses her complaints due to him having saved her life, and having secured Eukaris for them. Chromia comforts Windblade over her guilt over "helping" with Chela's death, and they decide to see Metroplex and ask about the last located Colony World they found.

Windblade tells Metroplex about Chela's death, and he forgives her for her part in it, as he knew Chela would never concede to her and Starscream. The Titan then gives Windblade information about the last colony, formed from the Titan Tempo, who was carrying philosophers, and tried to find some new truth to bring back home...

The next day, Starscream and Windblade head to Tempo.

On the hull of Tempo, two members of the crew are guarding the Space Bridge, in case of more Cybertronians coming through, when suddenly it activates, the guards call for back-up. Starscream and Windblade walk through the portal and are confronted by a small army, led by Strika, who don't want Cybertronians on their ship. After a very brief battle, Elita One appears and greets the two newcomers, agreeing to meet with them in her throne room, and explains that their last encounter with Cybertronians was violent.

Going through the ship, Elita explains that the ship is now called Carcer, not Tempo, and tells the newcomers that their goal changed from knowledge to a more militaristic one, but they hold truth as their highest law. She also explains that the ship has been being repaired over the years by using their dead crew members as spare parts, so they can mourn and remember the dead.

Starscream tries to appeal to Elita's war-like nature, by suggesting she adds her army to his, so they can protect and build up Cybertron some more, to maintain it's current peace.

Sadly for Starscream however, Obsidian and Elita reveal that they know Cybertron isn't "peaceful" as Obsidian saw the battle between Optimus Maximus and Devastator on their ship's hull during the Combiner Wars, and believes that Starscream is more likely to try and enslave her people rather than treat them as equals. Worst than that though, she believes he was lying just then, which is a capital offence on Carcer, and orders Strika to execute him.

Windblade steps in, and asks for her to give Starscream leniency for now, and she believes that all the colonies and Cybertron truly do need each other, as all of them have something that the others need, and they can only survive by working as one.

Elita One considers her options, and agrees that Carcer should join the Council of Worlds, and has a representative head to Cybertorn to check it out.

After returning to Cybertron, Windblade learns that Carcer IS NOT a nickname for Tempo, but is the name of another Titan, meaning that despite her words, Elita isn't telling the whole truth about her people. She decides to keep this information a secret for now though.

Two weeks later, Carcer's representatives, Strika and Obsidian sign their names to the charter, and the Council of Worlds is formed. The Combaticons watch the signing on a television, and get angry that Starscream is hiding the fact that Swindle and others were killed for this council to be formed, but they won't let him stay forgotten....

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Wheeljack - Race Car

Chromia - Speedbike

Metroplex - City/Space Ship

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt (Flashback)

Decepticon

Onslaught - Anti-Aircraft Truck

Brawl - Tank

Vortex - Helicopter

Blast Off - Space Shuttle

Swindle - Van (Mentioned) Dead

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Rat

Devastator - Constructicon Gestalt (Flashback)

Badgeless Officers (Flashback)

Carcerian

Elita One - Car

Obsidian - Helicopter

Strika - Battle Tank

Carcer - Space Ship

Greenlight

Lancer

Carcer's Crew

Carcer's old Commander (Flashback) Died in "Accident", built into ship

Velocitronian

Moonracer - Sports Car

Knock Out - Sports Car

Eukarian

Tigatron - Tiger

Airazor - Falcon

Chela (Flashback) Killed by Starscream

Divisen

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Other

Council of Worlds Formed

Tempo - City/Space Ship (Footage)

Tempo Crew (Footage)

Primus (Mentioned)

Caminus (Mentioned)

Notes

• Wait...if Metroplex knew that Chela would be a problem for Windblade and Starscream last issue, then why didn't he warn Windblade?
• Apparently Engex can be pronounced in different ways, like "tomato" and "potato"
• It seems like most of the warrior members of the Carcer crew use female character models.
• Strika's line of "I terminate!" is a reference to her activation code of "TERMINATE" when transforming in Beast Machines.
• One of the silhouettes of the Carcer crew seems to be based on TFA Sentinel Prime (I won't put him in the character list because it's impossible to tell, but still!)
• It's revealed that the ship's décor of dead body parts is just the past members of the crew being recycled as the ship is old. The throne that Elita One uses uses the previous commander's body...at least that's the story she's giving us...
• Seriously, the front cover makes her look quite evil and murdery....
• More than likely the Carcer crew invaded the Tempo, killed the crew and took their place, maybe using Tempo as repair parts for Carcer.
• The Carcer crew also appear to have built-in arm cannons and other weapons, like the characters from the Prime cartoon.
• Despite the previous decision for one representative per planet, as mentioned when Divisiun joined the council, there appears to be 2 reps per planet (except Caminus and Cybertron).
• The Combaticons are reunited, minus the dead Swindle of course, but he is mentioned through graffiti...could this be due to the upcoming Combiner Wars Combaticons? Hmmm...
• This is the last issue of the Windblade comic, but the story will continue in 2016 in the rebranded "Till all are one" comic series
• Depending where this issues falls in continuity, Brawl may have stayed behind on Cybertron following him and Needlenose returning to recruit others to the Jupiter colony.
• The signing scene appears to resemble a similar Pax Cybertronia signing shown in Dreamwave's unfinished Age of Wrath comic series...let's hope this isn't an omen.....

RID - Drift's Samurai Showdown

Plot

The Autobots are under attack by Decepticons in their scrapyard base...except they aren't....Bumblebee is testing his team with a Decepticon drill, and gets annoyed when Drift and his pupils don't even turn up. Drift turns up afterwards and comments on how the team can't work well together, and how he doesn't need one, as he has lasted for a long time on his own (ignoring his Mini-Cons). All of a sudden, Fixit alerts the team to a REAL Decepticon alert, and they go to get the information on it.

The Decepticon is under Crown City, so Grimlock has to stay behind, and Drift volunteers to remain as well after  learning who the Decepticon is (Forager, one of the Ronin). The Autobots quickly and easily manage to defeat Forager, and capture him, however when they return to the base, Forager reveals he was just faking being knocked out, and tries to escape...however he is again quickly put back to the stasis pod, but not before noticing Drift, and recognizing him as an old friend, leaving Drift to leave again, so as not to reveal his past to the team.

The next morning, the Autobots are trying to interrogate the Mini-Cons to find out Drift's secret, but they won't reveal anything. Russell takes over from the interrogation, by playing "tag" with the Mini-Cons and Sideswipe, making them a bit more relaxed, and they admit to not knowing his full history, but do reveal that he used to be named Deadlock, and was once a Decepticon before changing sides.

Bumblebee appears from behind them, outraged to learn this secret, he and Strongarm begin speculating that Drift might be a Decepticon spy, planning to work with Strongarm for his big plans, though Sideswipe points out that maybe Drift's Decepticon past is just in the past, like with Grimlock. Bee agrees to look into it further before making any judgements on his team-mate. Fixit then announces that multiple Decepticon signals have appeared.

Fixit can't identify the Decepticon signals as they appear to have scrambled their signals, but has located Drift driving towards them. The team are undecided on whether this means Drift is rendezvousing with his Decepticon allies, or heading to an ambush, so they go after him, they do however leave the Mini-Cons behind, just in case Drift is up to no good.

The Humans keep the Mini-Cons occupied whilst the Autobots race off to deal with Drift, one way or another when they find no Decepticons in the area they were detected, but some signal transmitters instead, giving fake signals, luring the team away from the base. Nearby however, two Decepticons have been watching the Autobots, and have collected images on them, which they use to create hologram disguises for themselves to use.

Soon, the fake Bumblebee and Grimlock return to the base, where they quickly capture Denny and Slipsteam and put them in a cage. Jetstorm and Russell manage to sneak away out of the scrapyard, and head the direction the Autobots went earlier, to try and intercept them.

Once gone, Fixit is forced to start releasing the Ronin captives, aka, just Forager, and he reveals that he saw Deadlock with the Autobots earlier when he was being frozen, despite him appearing to die back when they last saw him, they then decide to use an old holo image of Deadlock to their advantage later, in case the Autobots return.

The Autobots soon arrive, and fall for the Drift holograms, making them believe that Drift is in fact aligned with the Ronin still, and they are trapped inside some empty Stasis Cells.

In the woods, Jetstorm and Russell run into Drift, who they don't trust any more. Drift explains to them his back-story, where he was recruited by Megatron into the Decepticons when it was just a revolutionary, non-violent group, but it soon changed into a terrorist group. He was later badly injured in battle, but rescued by the Circle of Light. When the war reached the Circle as well. Drift became as Ronin, a group of Bounty Hunters, however on their last mission together, Foxtrot wanted to cause an explosion that would have killed the local lifeforms in the system, so Drift faked an explosion, and his death to save them. He then later joined the Autobots as Drift.

Drift suggests that the only way for them to rescue the others is to deceive the Ronin....

Drift, Jetstorm and Russell return to the scrapyard, where they meet with a fake Grimlock, whom Drift quickly identifies as Stilts. After a quick exchange, Drift "betrays" his comrades and captures them, taking them further into the base with Stilts, and puts them in the cage with Denny and Slipstream.

Foxtrot and the others are reluctant to trust Drift at first, but soon decide it's great to have the team all back together, and Foxtrot reveals his plan is to sell the Decepticon prisoners to the Autobots, and vice-versa to make a major profit. Drift and the Ronin leave to collect some Energon to help them power the locators, whilst the Mini-Cons and Humans begin to wonder if Drift is actually on their side or not...

The Ronin and Drift arrive at a factory in Crown City where they find a pile of Energon, left by the previous Decepticon occupants. Whilst there, a human security guard appears, and Drift pretends to kill him by causing a roof cave-in, but he purposely makes sure it misses the human.

The Ronin return to the base, and plan to "recycle" the Mini-Cons and Humans, when Drift starts to torment them by throwing a shuriken at the captives. However, unknown to the Ronin, Drift placed a message on the shuriken and slashed the bars, allowing them to escape, they head to the Stasis Cells, and release the Autobots.

The Autobots are ready to turn on Drift for his betrayal, but the Humans and Mini-Cons stop them, and explain what's happened. very soon, the Autobots attack the Ronin, and Drift reveals his true colours and turns on the Ronin as well, helping the Autobots to capture them all. Bumblebee and the others apologize for not trusting Drift, and he apologizes for not trusting them with his secret earlier, and everyone is happy...until no doubt someone else's dark past is uncovered...who bets Strongarm is a Predacon in disguise or something?

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Drift - Race Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Strongarm - Police SUV

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Slipstream - Pod

Jetstorm - Pod

Fixit

Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Forager - Dirt Buggy Captured by Autobots

Foxtrot - Sports Car Captured by Autobots

Stilts - Jet Plane Captured by Autobots

Deadlock (Mentioned) Now Drift

Steeljaw - Van (Mentioned)

Megatron - Jet (Mentioned)

Human

Denny Clay

Russell Clay

Officer Wong

Other

The Circle of Light (Mentioned)

Notes

• Drift's back-story and old name are based on his IDW counterpart.
• Though unlike his IDW counterpart, THIS Drift was never really evil, or a killer...just confused at a younger age...
• This story appears to be set just after Drift's joining of the team in the TV series
• The Grimlock impression makes Stilts sound like G1 Grimlock rather than RID.