International Incident Part 3: "Hawk Among the Sparrows"

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File:TF11 cvrb.jpg Death from above! Blue Death!
International Incident Part 3: "Hawk Among the Sparrows"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 15, 2010
Cover date	September 2010
Written by	Mike Costa
Art by	Guido Guidi
Colors by	J. Brown
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Assistant editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2010)

The Autobots have another go at the Combaticons, and Bumblebee tries to get Thundercracker to help.

Synopsis

Somewhere in the United States, Bumblebee tries to get Thundercracker to help the Autobots in North Korea. Thundercracker doesn’t want to join the Autobots and thinks that Bumblebee is grasping at straws. However, Bumblebee eventually convinces Thundercracker to join, reminding him of his Seeker heritage.

Back at Skywatch headquarters, Brawn gripes to Red Alert and Silverstreak about not going to North Korea. Silverstreak acts snarky and tries to calm him down, but both are told to shut up by human soldier Pennington. A comrade, Sandra voices her concerns about Brawn and the illegal operation they’re doing (harboring Cybertronians), but Pennington brushes it off.

In North Korea, the Combaticons talk about the aft-kicking they gave the Autobots. Vortex wishes they'd come back so he could "scrap 'em". He is then promptly thrown out of the hangar and pinned onto Optimus Prime's front. Eventually falling off, the others try and cut off his helicopter blades.

Up in space, satellite-Autobot Cosmos hacks a spy satellite to broadcast loops so the Autobots can fight in robot mode. With the go, Prime transforms and punches Onslaught in the mouth. The others are beaten away by Vortex, who tries to escape but is thrown back on the ground by Thundercracker. While fighting, Prime and Onslaught have a little talk about working for the humans. Onslaught says that Prime is doing the same as the Combaticons, but Prime replies that he is working to promote peace, and, with Thundercracker's help, gets Onslaught on his knees. But before he can finish, the Predacons show up, telling him he’s too close to the "great Republic of China".

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Bumblebee (2) Brawn (3) Red Alert (4) Silverstreak (5) Optimus Prime (11) Ratchet (12) Cosmos (13) Prowl (14) Jazz (15)	Thundercracker (1) Vortex (8) Onslaught (9) Brawl (10) Headstrong (16) Rampage (17) Divebomb (18) Tantrum (19)	Kyle Pennington (6) Sandra (7)

Notes

Errors

• On Cover A, Optimus Prime's left leg is colored as if it is part of Rampage.
• On page 5, Bumblebee's Autobot insignia is missing in the second panel.
• The very next panel, in which Bumblebee switches off Thundercracker's television, has Thundercracker minus his wing stripes and Decepticon insignia.
• The Republic of China is Taiwan. Rampage is thinking of the People's Republic of China.
• When Bumblebee is chatting to Cosmos in vehicle mode, his speech bubble is transparent
• Thundercracker manages to knock Vortex into the ground when he's in front of him.
• The title refers to a novel by Dean McLaughlin, which involves a modern fighter jet being transported in time and facing WWI aircraft.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Optimus fighting off Rampage; art by Don Figueroa, colors by Andrew Dalhouse.
• Cover B: Bumblebee riding atop Thundercracker with four of the Predacons looking onward; art by Guido Guidi, colors by J.Brown.
• Cover RI: Concept drawing of Mirage; art by Don Figueroa.

• File:TF11 cvra.jpg
• Pathetic fools! There's no escape!
  Pathetic fools! There's no escape!
• File:TF11 cvrRI.jpg

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