Transformers: Armada #4

Credits

Writer - Chris Sarracini / Pencils - James Raiz / Inks - Rob Armstrong and Erik Sander / Backgrounds - Edwin Garcia / Lettering - Dreamer Design / Colors - Alan Wang, Ramil Sunga, and Felipe Smith

Story

The day begins with Miss Ruby leading her class on a boring field trip at the Allspark Power Generating Station. The trip is interupted by the sudden arrival of Optimus Prime and the Autobots; Red Alert asks the students where the Mini-cons are, causing the class to scatter in panic. Smokescreen idly suggests tearing through the city to quickly find the Minicons, which earns a harsh rebuke from Optimus Prime, and a reminder that they must not adopt the Decepticons' tactics.

Within the city itself, Megatron is in hot pursuit of Sparkplug's antigravity sled, but the Minicons and the humans narrowly escape by flying through a tunnel. Frustrated, Megatron radios Starscream and berates him for being absent, as he, Cyclonus, and Demolishor are preparing to attack a military base. The three Decepticons tear through the base with ease, and quickly download several terran military vehicle forms for their use.

Back at Alexis' garage, the Minicons explain to the humans about their escape from Cybertron's civil war (from issue 3). The three kids begin arguing over who's at fault, then leave the garage to confer on their next move. Carlos points out that Megatron is bound to track them to their neighborhood, just as a panicking pedestrian runs by, yelling about a "giant monster." To draw Megatron away from the area, the Minicons quickly scan several neighborhood vehicles for new transformations.

Nearby, Megatron has reunited with the Decepticons, and Starscream stabs Megatron with a syringe -- which is revealed to be the download for a new combat-tank configuration. The Decepticons are then confronted by the Minicons, who taunt them before transforming and racing away. Starscream and Cyclonus give chase, but the humans quickly run across Optimus Prime and Scavenger, who ambush the two Decepticons. However, their victory is short-lived as Megatron and Demolishor prepare to open fire from nearby...

Notes and Comments

• The power generating station is apparently named after The AllSpark, a Transformers fan site on the internet.
• After the Autobots have materialized at the power station and scared off a gaggle of humans, Optimus Prime tells his troops "stealth is of the utmost importance to our mission. I want to minimize contact with the inhabitants of this planet at all costs." Kinda late for that, ain't it, Prime?
• Why do the Decepticons bother finding Earth military vehicles to adapt themselves to? Presumably they have perfectly functional combat forms of their own, and given how Megatron tears through half the city chasing the Minicons, they don't care about hiding from the humans. So why waste time looking for (relatively) inferior human tech to copy from?