Armada Volume 5

« Transformers: Armada Volume 5 »
Publisher	Fun Publications
First published	August 2, 2016
Written by	Randy Para
Pencils by	Robby Musso
Colors by	Jesse Wittenrich
Letters by	Jesse Wittenrich
Managing editor	Pete Sinclair
Continuity	Armada pack-in volume continuity

Skywarp and the Seekers go head to head with Jetfire, as Predacon works towards perfecting his experiments...

Synopsis

For millions of years, the war between the Autobots, the Decepticons, and more recently the Mini-Cons has raged, until Cybertron was attacked by the evil creator of the Mini-Cons, Unicron! During the Unicron Battles, all sides worked together to stop the monster planet, and succeeded. With the loss of Galvatron, however, the Decepticons have scattered, while the Autobots work together with both the Mini-Cons and their human allies to rebuild their home. Jetfire leads the Mini-Cons Cliffjumper and Refute along with human ally Stella Holley, welding the planet back together. Suddenly, the four are alerted when a group of Seekers fly on by; Cliffjumper wonders if they should report to Optimus, but Jetfire holds her back, not believing the Decepticons are a cause for concern...for now.

The Seekers—Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker—arrive at their base in the Wastelands, the most desolate area of Cybertron. Entering their compound, the trio is greeted by the mad scientist Predacon, who asks if they've found any more Mini-Cons for his experiments. Skywarp and Thundercracker both report negative, noting that no one really wants to go through Predacon's experiments. Macabre as ever, Starscream figures they could "persuade" some Mini-Cons, and Skywarp, disgusted by his cousin, pushes Starscream back, with Thundercracker remembering all too well what happened to Swindle. Unfazed, Starscream pushes Skywarp even further, asking him about what happened to Thunderclash. Predacon tries to break up the fight, worried that an Autobot might find them...and one does, as Jetfire blasts through the wall! Skywarp, all business, tells Thundercracker and Starscream to help Predacon gather up his work as he takes on Jetfire. Skywarp's missiles don't impress the Autobot, who throws up his shield just in time, and promises to show him how a quick draw is done, powering up his gun to fire off a massive blast. At the last second, Skywarp uses his ability to teleport, warping in right behind Jetfire and disarming him. However, with the others making their escape, Skywarp lets him go, promising that they'll meet again.

Soon after, Cliffjumper, Refute, and Stella arrive to investigate what Predacon left behind. Cliffjumper is surprised that Skywarp let Jetfire go, but the Autobot can't complain too much. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the Seekers are far the only threat they'll have to deal with. Observing the strange chambers Predacon built to experiment on Mini-Cons, Stella finds one that's been ripped open from the inside...with strange, animalistic claw marks covering it. Soon, the Autobots will have to face the wrath of a new enemy: the Terrorcons!

Continued!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Mini-Cons	Humans
Jetfire (1)	Starscream (5) Thundercracker (6) Skywarp (7) Predacon (8)	Cliffjumper (2) Refute (4) Skid-Z (9)	Stella Holley (3)

Notes

• Characters mentioned but not seen include: Unicron, Galvatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream's Mini-Con partner, Thunderclash, and the Terrorcons.

Continuity notes

• This comic takes place in the same, vaguely Dreamwave Productions-based world that the pack-in mini-comics for both the Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon toylines. It incorporates elements of both the Dreamwave Armada comics (the Mini-Cons ability to speak) and the Armada cartoon (the origin of Mini-Cons as creations of Unicron).
• The story serves as a bridge between the Armada and Energon mini-comics. The final Armada mini-comic ended with Cybertron under attack by Unicron, and featured Galvatron as the Decepticon leader. In the first volume of the Energon mini-comic, Unicron had apparently been defeated, with the Autobots contending with the threat of the Terrorcons, and with Megatron reborn deep within Unicron's form.

Transformers references

• This story repurposes the Legends Armada Starscream Super Mode toy as Thundercracker. You know you saw it coming.
• Stella is wearing a black and purple version of Misha Miramond's spacesuit.
• This comic makes reference to the abandoned idea that Omnicons and Terrorcons evolved from Mini-Cons.
• The comic makes reference to Starscream and Skywarp's familial relationship.
• Thundercracker refers to the Wastelands as "Home Sweet Home". It was established that Thundercracker had a base of operations in the Wastelands in his Dreamwave bio.

Notes

• Skid-Z being present while Side Burn is not is meant to hint that Side Burn may have been (forcibly) experimented on by Predacon, while Skid-Z was not. This is a call back to the Dreamwave continuity bio for each where Skid-Z wanted to participate in Predacon's experiments but was incompatible. Meanwhile, Side Burn was compatible but unwilling.
• Thunderclash's absence is intended to explain how Thunderclash's toy was slightly redecoed and packaged with Ramjet, the idea being Skywarp left him during the Unicron Battles to later be paired with Ramjet by Unicron.
• Stella Holley's inclusion is due to the author being a big fan of Hirofumi Ichikawa's work, in particular "Linkage".