Transformers Comic issue 2.3

« Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen #3 »
Spot where the free gift went!
Publisher	Titan Magazines
First published	13 August 2009
Editor	Steve White
Deputy editor	Den Patrick
Designer	Danny Preston
Publishing manager	Darryl Curtis
Price	£2.99

And now... ACTION FORCE NEST!

Learning Curve

• Script: Simon Furman
  
• Art: Jon Davis-Hunt
  
• Colours: Hi-Fi Design
  
• Letters: Andrew James
  
• Continuity: Revenge of the Fallen (prequel)

At Edwards Air Force Base, California, gunfire pounds the ground around Ironhide! Tracking the attacker to the alley behind two hangars, he is outraged to find a horde of crates being pushed onto him by...Skids?!

Skids and Mudflap head for another hangar, ready to achieve their primary objective. They crack the lock and enter it, finding the secret NEST base inside...and a very grumpy Ironhide, warning them "get ready for pain" before he bashes their heads together.

Oh, so that's why they look like—oh, wait, they were already ugly.

It becomes clear the twins, who ran off from their minder when he wasn't looking, have been spending their whole time at the base constantly claiming they have important info for Optimus Prime...which they'll only tell to Optimus, as it's "need to know". Ironhide has already told them (twice!) they can't bother Optimus, and as it turns out, he's not there anyway. (When asked why he didn't tell them, he says it was "need to know". Sarcastic git!) It's clear nobody believes the twins really have important info, not after all the times they've cried wolf before.

Suddenly, NEST's human techies pick up a Decepticon signal heading for Las Vegas! Ironhide immediately organises a human strike team under Sergeant Dundee and has their transport prepped. The twins eagerly clamour to join in the op, saying they've got the right stuff... to which Ironhide says no, they suck. Their laissez-faire approach makes them a liability, and they're too immature to be used in the real world. If they want his trust, they need to earn it. (Mudflap comes close to saying something rude here...) As the NEST team leaves, the twins decide they're having none of that; they're going to Vegas to show Ironhide what they can do!

As night falls, Grindor enters Vegas, a bit fed up with Soundwave being so cryptic about why he's there — not to mention Soundwave being a back-seat driver and "directing" him. He quickly finds some old rusting car, which his boss babbles about containing ancient knowledge in an old shell. Luckily, he then gets some proper instructions: Cut the car open and take something from it!

By the time he's finished and extracted a strange, circuitry-based "memory tree" from the car, NEST has arrived and is moving to take him down. Soundwave barks that he must get the tree back now now now and not be diverted or captured. While being snarky about the "touching concern", Grindor uses his rotor to blast parked cars at Ironhide and the NEST crew. While the Autobot is hit, the humans continue to drive on and hit the retreating Decepticon with an electrified cable, disabling him. Now all they have to do is anchor it into the road to keep him immobilised...

...and then Skids and Mudflap arrive to prove themselves by shooting down this Decepticon that NEST is struggling with!

...and shoot through the cable, allowing him to flee.

Despite this, Ironhide recognises that they're genuinely distraught and what they tried to do, and he admits that while they need to think before they go in, maybe this is something that can be solved. He tells them everyone makes mistakes; they just need to learn from them.

Quotes

"Don't make me come lookin'. My fabled sunny disposition is just that... a fable."

—Ironhide

"While you insist on this policy of do-as-you-damn-well-like, you're a liability, both of you. Especially on joint field-ops. This is a real world, bots, not one of your playground stories."

—Ironhide

"Say, Ironhide, anyone ever tell you—?"
"Not twice."

—Mudflap and Ironhide

"We are not being taken seriously."

—Skids

"What is this thing I'm looking for?"
"One of the lost."
"Is that supposed to mean something to me, Soundwave?"
"No."

—Grindor has a crap boss in Soundwave

Errors

• As has happened before, the "Previously" section refers to some events that haven't actually happened.
• Grindor is sporting a different colour scheme from his toy and film self.
• In the panel in which Grindor transforms and gets ready to carve up the dormant Seeker his rotor blades are drawn spinning on his right arm like a blade while at the same time they are hanging off his back, which Blackout was doing before he was hit by sabot-round missiles and Lennox's sabot launcher, then killed. Weird.

Notes

• Why does the Twins' message need to be heard by Optimus only? The impression given is that it doesn't, and the twins are just being juvenile. Going off their Movie Universe bios, it's possible they want to use it as an excuse to see His Nibs in person.
• The twins have a rep of being immature and telling tall tales.
• First strip appearance of NEST. They go unnamed and unclarified, though if you haven't seen the film yet, it's still clear Ironhide is hanging with the US military.
• This is the first time we've seen a NEST base outside of Diego Garcia. Ironhide is a commanding officer here.
• Soundwave is clearly working for The Fallen, and that car he had hacked up is almost certainly a dormant, and quite unfortunate, Seeker. Grindor, and presumably a number of other Decepticons, are being kept in the dark.
  • Why doesn't Soundwave just talk to Ransack, an active Seeker? Later issues reveal Ransack will only give his intell to the Fallen, and Soundwave seems to want the information for himself...
• With Soundwave appearing to be the Earth commanding officer, Starscream appears to only be a commander in the Decepticons rather than their nominal head in the manner of Megatron. When they meet up in later issues, Soundwave outranks Starscream.
• This strip has the most appearances of the twins' actual faces since the run started.

Contents

Articles & features

• The Fallen character profile.
• Competitions, including one for Deluxe TF toys.
• "WIN! See the sights of London with Bumblebee": a competition for readers over twelve to win a trip around London in a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro and a slap-up meal at Haymarket's Planet Hollywood for yourself, a friend, and a guardian! You also win a full set of Transformers RPM toys and a Devastator Showdown track set.
• Top Gear: Advertising and competitions.
• More Than Meets The Eye: puzzles.
• Sideswipe's Arsenal: informative feature on the railgun.
• Law and Disorder: Letters, art and photos from readers, answered by Barricade and Ironhide.
• Starscream's Stars: Comedy horrorscope.
• Poster of All Hail Megatron issue 3's Guido Guidi cover.

Free Gift

Cos we needed MORE cover text...

• "FREE DISK SHOOTER WATCH" — a disc-firing weapon. It has an Autobot logo and fires... Decepticon logo disks...
• Pull-out activity section: removable four-page cardboard thing, with the top sticking up out of the comic (giving the cover an extra banner). It's got several activities and bits you can cut out to make things with! You can make a Starscream glider, targets for the disc launcher, a door handle (Autobot and NEST versions ("ideal for keeping annoying sisters and Decepticons at bay"), and a Megatron mask. "Become the Decepticon face of evil—and terrify your parents!"

He's looking at YOU!

Reprints

• All Hail Megatron issue 2b/issue 3a (16 pages)

Law and Disorder

"Kyle Hampshire wins the Star Letter prize for his picture of Barricade—what do you mean, 'fix'?"

"It doesn't help that Megatron is prone to fits of psychopathic paranoia either and is a terrible bully. And he's also our glorious, wonderful leader and I totally respect him for it."
"You creep, Barricade..."

—Barricade and Ironhide on why Starscream and Megatron fight

"The episode you mention is called Triple Takeover. Starscream doesn't get frozen, he just gets locked in a chamber in some sewers. He still gets mad about that, but then who wouldn't?"

—Barricade

"Don't forget, you humans like to strap on rollerblades. Not so different from Sideswipe after all. You just lack the big, pointy swords for arms."

—Ironhide

Starscream's Stars

"CANCER (22 Jun — 22 July): It's been said trouble always comes in threes. Luckily, you only have one Decepticon to worry about. Unluckily, it's a Triple Changer. Fate dumps used energon cubes in your path once again..."

"LIBRA (23 Sept — 23 Oct): Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

"ARIES (21 Mar — 19 April): The sun is up, the sky is lime green (you are, after all, on Nebulous Verde XIII), everything is going your way, you got that promotion and you're feeling chipper. Everyone hates you."

Errors

• Sideswipe's Arsenal is called Sideswipe's Armoury in the contents.

Notes

• The contents page plugs the Auto Assembly convention.
• The Fallen's profile explicitly states there were seven original Transformers, fitting what turned up in the film, and that the Fallen was imprisoned until Megatron released him. It also says that "legend has it" that the Original Seven are creations of Primus, though they themselves think they're from the All Spark; whether that's a hint of anything or just a nod to us nerds is unknown.
• So now we know Barricade watches the G1 cartoon.
• The Camaro competition uses a photo of Bumblebee in car mode, with a disclaimer that this is for illustrative purposes and the real Camaro may look different.